The Path of Shadows
by Shyranae
Summary: The sequel to Light in the Shadows. As Harry returns to Hogwarts, elf and Shade in tow the dangers he has to face have only increased. Harry must learn to control his new powers following an ever hazier path as friend and foe plan around him.
1. Summer

_Welcome to Part two of my Harry Potter/Yugioh cross over. I told you it wouldn't take me long to update!_

_For those of you who have just opened this story and are looking for a good one to read, welcome, but you probably need to go back and quickly read through 'Light in the Shadows' which is Part One. A lot happens in that story which will make this make a lot more sense. I will give a quick explanation of some things, but nothing like the detail you will get from reading the first story._

_For those of you who have read 'Light in the Shadows' and have now followed me onto this one, welcome back and good to see you. As before this is all written from Harry and Yami's point of view._

_There will be pairings in this one, nothing obscure, I like the pairs that JK Rowling used so I'm sticking with those._

_Well enough introductions and on with the story..._

Chapter 1: Summer

To say that this summer was different to last year was to severely understate things; at least in reference to Harry Potter's summer.

Last summer had been days full of boredom, irritation and a desire to return to school. This summer his days were full. After all he now had to care for an elf-child, keep a vicious and deadly Shade under some sort of control, practice a new, unfamiliar and exceptionally powerful magic and get all his holiday homework done. Boredom at least never came into the equation.

As he had promised his Uncle, Harry kept Yugi the diminutive, amethyst eyed elf inside and away from the prying eyes of their neighbours. Of course his Uncle didn't know about Yami, the elf's living-shadow guardian. The Shade was perfectly willing to take Yugi wherever he wanted to go. So long as it was within his territory.

When Harry had first learnt that Shades had territories he had thought that he knew what that meant. Harry, of course was very wrong.

For two days after their arrival Yami had disappeared. According to Yugi he was tracing out the area where he was going to set up his territory and then setting down several very complex layers of spells which would warn him of any approaching Shade. Considering he now had to protect Harry as well as Yugi, Yami had added in spells to detect Death Eaters and dementors.

Harry had smiled at that. After all the years Dumbledore had spent putting protective charms around the Dursley's house, Yami was protecting him better after two days. And he could do it all from Harry's bedroom.

Harry now had no fear at all of being attacked by Death Eaters or any other dark creatures within Little Whinging. Not only was the powerful charm laid down by his mother's sacrifice still in place, but there was no way that Voldemort would be willing to tackle Yami just to get to Harry.

At the moment all three of the occupants of Harry's bedroom were present. Harry was sitting on his bed combing Yugi's long tri-coloured hair, a past-time that they both found surprisingly relaxing.

Yami leant against the opposite wall. The Shade was nearly a head shorter than Harry and he didn't seem to be growing at all, unlike Harry who was sprouting upwards in a way that surprised even him.

Dressed in tight black leather and topped with a pair of eyes the colour of freshly spilled blood, Yami never looked like the kind of person you messed with despite his considerable lack of height. At least here he didn't have to hide the colour of his eyes. Muggles had no idea that red eyes meant Shade; that was a wizard thing.

There was a single loud thud on the bedroom door and Yami's eyes slid over to look at it. Dudley's voice carried through faintly. "Dinner." Then he was gone. Harry grinned. When he had arrived home at the beginning of summer, Dudley had tried to torment Yugi. Harry had ignored him, knowing that if he reacted too strongly Yami would take things into his own hands and obliterate his cousin. Yugi hadn't seemed bothered so they had left it at that.

A few days later when Harry had been out for a walk, Dudley and the rest of his gang had cornered him in the park. Harry had been considering throwing them backwards with the earth magic, which conveniently couldn't be sensed by the Ministry, when a familiar flicker of shadow had caught his eye.

The earth magic had shifted and Yami pulled Dudley and his three friends into the shadows of a building. Harry continued with his walk and didn't mention the event to Yugi, who had been taking a nap at the time.

Since then Dudley and his gang had left Harry and Yugi completely alone.

Harry hoisted Yugi up onto his hip and headed downstairs. Aunt Petunia had reluctantly agreed to let Yugi eat at the table with them. This had probably been helped along by the desperate pleading looks that Yugi had been giving her at the time. Harry's muggle family may have hated everything magic, but it was impossible to hate Yugi, the elf was just too adorable.

Harry sat Yugi on his cushion piled chair and settled himself next to him. Silence reigned. This wasn't all that uncommon for Yugi, who only spoke in front of a few select individuals, however it was becoming an increasingly common feature of the normally loud Dursleys. Harry smiled into his water glass, apparently being hosts to a Shade wasn't as pleasant when you weren't protected by powerful elfin magic.

Harry didn't encourage talk for several reasons. Firstly Shades could feed off anger as well as fear and his Uncle was a little too good at anger for Harry's liking, secondly he was thinking.

He had received a letter from Dumbledore, telling him that his Professor would be arriving at eleven O'clock tonight to pick him up and take him to the Burrow. Last year Harry couldn't have been more delighted to have heard that after only a few weeks at his Aunt and Uncle's house he would be heading back to the wizarding world. This year however he had other things to think about.

Yugi was still more than a little wary of the very mothering Mrs. Weasley, though he loved Ron and Hermione and when Yugi got nervous Yami got protective which could cause trouble. Not to mention how Yami would feel about having to up and move away so quickly, especially when Harry had told him that they would be staying put for a few months.

Also Harry was sure that Fred and George would be glad to see Yami again, though Harry was certain that they had been told that their teacher and fellow prankster was actually a Shade, one of the darkest and most dangerous creatures known to wizard-kind. He was just not so sure about how the other Weasley's would react to having to play host to Yami.

Harry had been thinking so hard he hadn't even noticed that he had finished eating. As soon as Yugi was done Harry picked him back up and went back to his bedroom. He spent as little time in his family's company as he could. In his bedroom Yami was still waiting. Harry could have sworn that he knew that Harry wanted to talk to him. Harry fished around in the pile of parchment and books on his floor and came up with the note.

"Yami maybe you should read this." Harry handed over Dumbledore's note and then waited as the Shade glanced at it.

Yami looked up. "So we are leaving tonight."

Harry nodded though it wasn't a question. "I'm not sure what you want to do?"

Yami gave him a strange look, like Harry had suggested that he go down and ask if the Dursley's minded if he just had a quick bite to eat. "I will go with Yugi." Harry was still a little bothered that Yami never included Harry in that sort of a statement. To Yami Harry was little more than the food Yugi ate. As his parent Harry provided Yugi with some sort of energy which he needed to survive at his young age. Yami protected Harry only because without him Yugi would die.

"Okay, well Dumbledore is coming so I guess we should pack." Harry looked around his room at the scatter of things which had come out of his trunk.

Yami chuckled, "We?" His apparently solid form dissolved slowly into shadows which flowed effortlessly out of the window and into the coming night.

Yugi giggled from his spot on the bed and Harry rolled his eyes at his young charge. "What did you expect?" Yugi asked in his clear musical voice, "He didn't bring any luggage with him." He then raised his hands and clapped twice. Things began to lift off the floor and drop into his trunk. Harry began to pick things off the floor.

"You should practice the earth magic more." Yugi noted. As usual once they were alone the elf spoke freely and he could be quite impertinent.

Harry looked over at Yugi who appeared to be conducting the packing, with one tiny hand waving delicately in the air. "Ryou said I didn't need to practice, that the magic would just come." Harry resisted pointing out that Yugi was using elfin magic, not earth magic to do his packing.

Yugi shrugged. "Practice never hurt anyone."

Harry sighed and dropped what he was holding. He closed his eyes and emptied his mind, something that now came as naturally as breathing. The magic immediately came to him, a gentle tingle that started in his head and worked its way down his arms. Harry opened his eyes and visualised everything lifting into the air and dropping neatly into his trunk, just like it had for Yugi. The magic strengthened, and everything in the room lifted into the air and tried to fit into Harry trunk.

Harry cursed his non-specific instruction as the bed, with Yugi still perched in the covers attempted to stuff itself into Harry trunk. Yugi rolled around with laughter as Harry released the magic and began to arrange his room and put his things into his trunk manually. Maybe he did need to practice a little.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Yami glided around the edges of his territory. It had been years since he had acquired a territory with so many humans in it. He certainly had missed it.

Now of course they were moving again. Humans were far too migratory for Yami's liking. They always seemed to come back to certain places, their homes he guessed, but other than that they were always moving around. He supposed it came from being such a young species.

Yami flowed over to a nearby house and slid inside. His fear spells activated immediately, though lightly. The non-magical humans inside began to look miserable, Yami considered as the energy flowed into him.

They were leaving for a burrow. Yami wasn't sure if this meant that it was underground, but he hoped not. It wasn't the same place that Yugi had spent the last holidays, but Yami knew that many of the same people would be there. They were all now aware that he was a Shade, their reactions would be interesting. He doubted that any of them had had many dealings with his people, at least not consciously.

With his reserves full, Yami made his way back to Yugi. He intended on leaving his boundary spells up, though he knew that Dumbledore would return the anti-Shade spells once he was gone. That didn't bother him, the spells would withstand that.

Yami and Dumbledore arrived almost simultaneously. Now the fun would begin. Yami went in through an open window in time to see Harry stumble down the stairs with Yugi in pursuit. Harry's enormous relation had gotten to the door first.

Yami drew his shadows into human form on the stairs and came down behind Harry to peer over Yugi's head at the old wizard at the door. He arranged his features into a picture of polite curiosity. Dumbledore chatted happily to the furious human in front of him. His eyes flickered over the males head to take in the three of them on the stairs. Yugi smiled and waved, Harry looked sheepish, Yami's polite expression slipped into a smug smirk over the anger coming off the other human and the female who had also arrived in the room.

The male human turned to see what Dumbledore was looking at. His eyes took in Harry and Yugi with the same look of distaste that he seemed to spare only for magical things. Finally they settled on Yami and the stare went blank with confusion. There was one of those long awkward silences that always made Yami feel rather superior. Then the human started to go red.

"What on earth is that thing?" He snarled pointing at Yami.

Harry turned on the stairs and looked up at Yami. The boy had been so focused on Dumbledore's arrival that he hadn't noticed Yami's appearance. "He's a...friend." Yami raised an eyebrow and shrugged. Whatever Harry wanted to call him.

Dumbledore stepped neatly over the threshold of the house and closed the door behind him. "I trust you have been well Harry?" He was trying to cut through the awkward silence and only partially succeeded.

"Fine Professor." Harry said uncomfortably. Yugi giggled and ran back upstairs to finish packing. Dumbledore motioned for Harry to follow him into another room. Yami followed the two of them sedately, leering at Harry's relations as he walked past them.

The lone female in the house shuddered away from his gaze.

It was at that point that Yami noticed something wrong with Dumbledore; it took him a moment to figure it out. He realised that the old human had been cursed, badly. His hand was black. However the poison of the spell was seeping into the rest of his body. Yami tilted his head and watched; Yugi prodded his mind and watched with him. /Can you do anything?/ Yami asked.

Yugi giggled, a pleasant bubbling sensation ran along the bond. /I didn't know you cared/.

Yami rolled his eyes and waited, Yugi would answer his question eventually. The elf sighed sadly. /Not anymore, the curse has gone too far and been affected by too many other magics/.

Dumbledore was speaking with Harry unaware of the discussion about his welfare. "Before we leave I have something which must be discussed. Sirius' will has been discovered and it leaves all his possessions to you."

Harry looked decidedly startled. "What?"

Dumbledore sat himself down and Harry's family came into the room behind Yami and sidled around him to sit on another couch. The adult male looked like he was about to speak. Yami leant casually against the door frame and used the movement to disguise the ripple of shadows as his magic detached itself and settled in an intricate weaving of fear spells over the three non-magical humans. Harry's eyes flickered over to Yami at the movement, but Dumbledore didn't seem to notice as he continued to speak. "Yes everything, including Grimwauld Place and all its contents. However we must be sure that it remains safe for our use."

Harry frowned he seemed utterly confused. Yami didn't see what the difficulty was. Even he understood what Dumbledore meant and Yami rarely understood the various human traditions. "How can you do that?" Harry asked. Once again his eyes flickered up to Yami who gave him a blank stare in return. "There is one way." Dumbledore waved his wand and with a loud crack a House Elf appeared in the room.

Yami looked down at the ugly little creature with disgust. The forest elves Yami could put up with, after all they were Yugi's people. House elves annoyed him to no end, he wasn't sure why. This elf was smashing his hands and feet on the floor, shrieking in fury. Yami rubbed his temples and growled. Elfin emotions did absolutely nothing for him, didn't matter what type of elf. This elf's strong emotions were causing the build up of a potentially strong headache.

"Kretcher shut up." Harry snapped. Apparently Harry didn't like the pathetic creature any more than Yami did. The magical bond which Yami could just sense if he looked closely enough snapped taut and the House elf's mouth snapped shut, his anger increased.

Dumbledore looked pleased. "Well that problem is settled..." He continued, but Yami's attention was distracted for a moment as Yugi brought Harry's trunk down the stairs. There was a loud thump as it hit the ground. Everyone else in the room was too focused on what Dumbledore was saying to react to the sound.

Yugi trotted into the room, the non-magical humans all twitched at the sight of him. Yugi turned his head and gave Yami a slightly cheeky grin before walking over to Harry and resting his chin on Harry's knee.

As Dumbledore finished Harry nodded and glanced down at Yugi. "Uh Professor, I think we are ready to go." Dumbledore looked at Yugi and then glanced up at Yami before he nodded. "Very well then."

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Harry watched Yami uncertainly as they stepped outside of the Dursley's house. The door slammed shut behind them with determination. Yami carried Yugi and as usual he blended unusually well with the dark night around them. Dumbledore was floating Harry's trunk along a few inches above the ground.

Harry wasn't exactly sure what it was that Dumbledore wanted his help with tonight, but he got the feeling that it would go more smoothly if Yami didn't come with them. Dumbledore had plans however. He waved his wand over Harry's trunk which promptly dissappeared. "I will send your things ahead to the Burrow so we are not encumbered with them." Dumbledore paused and looked at Yami, the Shade seemed remarkably indifferent to their scrutiny.

"I think perhaps it would be best for you to make your way to the Burrow. I mean no offence when I say that this trip will go considerably better if you are not there. Also we will be apparating and I do not think it would be healthy for me to carry you in such a manner."

Yami tilted his head slightly. "You are correct human. To carry me using your transportation spell would severely incapacitate you. I will take Yugi with me, this Burrow has anti-Shade spells though."

Dumbledore inclined his head slightly. "Yes, I have asked Molly to remove them temporarily. She will raise them again once you are inside. It will mean that you will have to remain on the property until the term starts again, but I do not wish for any other Shade to find his way to the Burrow." Dumbledore seemed to think. "I would prefer however for Harry to take Yugi tonight, I have a feeling that his presence will be very helpful."

Yami's arms tightened around the elf. "I don't think so human, I do not trust you to keep him safe."

Harry glanced up. "What about me." Yami's face however was obstinate, a look that Harry was very familiar with. Harry exchanged a look with his Headmaster and the old Professor nodded. "Very well. One final thing, I cannot remove the anti-Shade spells that are on Hogwarts itself I hope this will not inconvenience you too much."

Yami shrugged. "I have crossed them before I will do it again."

His body dissolved rapidly and lifting Yugi carefully into them he flowed off into the night.

Dumbledore turned to Harry and smiled. "Well Harry, grab your wand and we will be on our way."

* * *

_It's kind of funny, but this story was five pages long before I even started, just through notes I'd made while writing Light in the Shadows. Unfortunately this doesn't mean that updates will come quicker, still once a week. Maybe twice if I write a lot._

_Leave a review and smile for the camera._


	2. Problems at the Burrow

_Not too much to say here, just thanks for my reviews. I'm so glad that people seem to have followed on from Light in the Shadows. For those of you who didn't review; I can see you reading anyway._

Chapter 2: Problems at the Burrow

Yami made the journey to the Burrow as quickly as he could to reduce the time that Yugi was forced to ride in the discomfort of his shadows. However the space between Harry's home and this Burrow contained several Shade territories. Yami had to skirt them with a great deal of care. They met with only one problem point.

Yami examined the area carefully. Two Shade territories met. He had never seen or heard of anything like it. They actually shared a border. Not a small border either, it extended for a good mile. The combination of their territories was too large for Yami to skirt in time to put Yugi down before the elf became too restless for Yami to hold. Yami's mood altered from confusion to irritation. How was he supposed to cross that?

/Very quickly/ Yugi commented as he shifted uncomfortably in Yami's grip. Yami steeled himself and back up a little. Not that he really needed a run up, he could reach his top speed very quickly, he just hoped that it was fast enough to get through this boundary before two Shades who apparently didn't hate each other all that much managed to reach him.

Yami shot forwards, the instant he touched the border he felt the two Shades come for him. One was young, the other was slightly older probably the reason that they could cohabitate, it wouldn't last. He could fight them if need be, but Yugi would be put in considerable danger and Yami would rather not risk that.

Yami pressed forwards going as fast as he could while carrying a passenger. As he moved he sent various curses out to Harry for making him do this. They had managed to make their way from the loud train station all the way to Harry's home without crossing a single Shade territory, now he had to cross two at once.

Yami could sense the two Shades coming up on him fast, he could also sense the end of the boundary spells. Unfortunately the Shades were closer. Yami was on the verge of spinning to a stop to face the oncoming threat when Yugi's voice rung through his mind in command. /Keep going/ Yami wasn't able to resist the words so he kept moving as Yugi wove an elfin spell.

To have someone call up an elemental magic while they sat inside you was certainly an unpleasant feeling, producing a sensation akin to swallowing a large spiny prickle. Yami twitched and Yugi sent the spell off, the prickle ripped its way out of his centre and colliding with the older Shade. He began to spin in confusion, Yami had had this spell put on him before; it gave you the bizarre sensation of being sure that you were upside down no matter which way you turned yourself.

Yami shot past the boundary while the younger Shade hesitated trying to work out what the strange magic was. Yami didn't stick around, they were nearly at the Burrow and he needed to put Yugi down and run a few spells through himself to get rid of the last of the elfin magic.

It took them only a few more minutes to cover the last distance. As they approached the house Yami slowed down, checking carefully to ensure that he didn't run head first into an anti-Shade spell.

As he settled down onto the ground, releasing Yugi and taking in his surroundings a human female came out of the house. She had her wand raised and was looking around desperately. Yugi stepped forwards and made a comforting noise she glanced down. "Hello there little one, now where is this S...Shade who is supposed to be coming with you." Yami rumbled in pleasure at her fear of him. Yugi gave him a condescending look. /Human form, now/.

Yami grumbled, but drew his shadows together. He had no intention of remaining that way for long so he didn't bother to make the form too solid. The witch flinched as he appeared and made several deft motions with her wand. Yami didn't pay any attention to the flare of human magic as several human voices, some of which were familiar to him called out from behind the female.

She gave him another wary look and stepped back to allow him inside. Yami picked Yugi up as he went, her wariness increased. As they stepped into the pleasantly warm room Ron and Hermione leapt up to greet him. He still found this strange, until he noticed that it was a slightly strained welcome as they both clapped him on the back. Yugi rolled his eyes as Hermione turned her attention to him. /They are trying to show the others that they can trust you, they are being nice/.

Yami looked at the two of them and managed a small smile. If anything this increased the trepidation in the room. Yami tilted his head at one of the females. There was something off about her, he twitched a few vision filters and realised why. She was part Veela, and she was staring at him.

"Where I come from, we would never allo' this to 'appen." She proclaimed.

The first female went brick red and purposefully turned to Yami. "Would you like something to eat dear?" She asked, her voice only wobbling slightly.

Yami hesitated before responding, Ron looked nervous and Yugi's presence in his mind insisted he at least try to be polite to start with. "No. I do not eat." He glanced at Yugi as the elf mentally poked him. "Yugi would like something though."

The female glanced down at Yugi and her face brightened. "Of course, you are so little, poor dear."

This made Yami grin for real and unfortunately this meant that his tight hold on his innate fear spells slipped a little. Everyone in the room went pale and the female who was in the process of pouring out some soup for Yugi, dropped the plate.

Yugi gave Yami a worried look as Yami muttered to himself and reeled his shadows back in. "Oops." This was going to be a nightmare. There was no way that he could keep his spells under control constantly for the next few months.

The humans were recovering slowly and Hermione was trying to explain. "It's alright, nothing serious."

Yami rumbled and added another layer of magic to his human form illusion. "You are wrong, I cannot control my magic around so few humans. You are going to be frightened a lot if you remain here with me."

Hermione frowned, "We didn't feel it that much last year?"

Yami sighed and the light in the room dimmed. He was just glad that his darkings had remained at Hogwarts, at Yugi's insistence. "I had more room to move. I could leave if my magic began to affect you too badly and there were more of you so the spells were spread out more." He growled and began to dissolve his human form, this was foolish. He would go to a deserted point within the spells and stay there. Yugi was upset enough with him having that one slip up.

"Stop!" The first female snapped and lifted her wand. "If you are going to be in my home then you will remain as a human at all times."

Yami's already frayed temper snapped. "Are you a fool. I cannot maintain a human form for that long around all this human magic. You are humans and you cannot do anything to command me." He dissolved into his shadows and left the room, despite the enriching emotions which had blossomed in wake of his outburst.

Yugi's trilling voice was raised insistently, but Yami managed to ignore him. This really was absurd.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Harry looked up at the sight of the Burrow and smiled. He loved Ron's house, it was more of a home to him than the Dursley's house had ever been. Dumbledore paused and turned to face him. "Thank you for your help tonight Harry. I do not think that I would have been able to convince Horace quite so quickly if you had not come."

"That's okay Professor." Harry paused and looked back over at the Burrow. "Are you coming in?" He asked.

Dumbledore smiled faintly. "Unfortunately I have other things which I must attend to. However I will see you when you return to school." Dumbledore bowed to him slightly and turned walking across the boundary of the Burrow and apparating as soon as he crossed it. Harry walked up to the door on his own, wondering if Yami and Yugi had arrived.

It didn't take him long to work out that they had. His first clue was the blazing argument currently in full swing in the Weasley's kitchen, the second was the frightened looks on everyone's pale faces.

Harry's eyes settled on Yugi seated between Ron and Hermione. The elf gave him a big smile and went back to his dinner of soup and fresh crusty bread. Harry's stomach growled in response to the smells in the kitchen and everyone looked up. "Harry!" Mrs Weasley cried in delight and rushed forwards to hug him. Harry hugged her back and for several minutes he was lost under all the welcomes. Ron and Hermione were the last as he dropped into a chair next to Yugi.

The kitchen was full of people. Fleur, Ginny, Mr and Mrs Weasley, Ron and Hermione, apparently everyone had stayed awake to welcome him, or meet the Shade. Yami himself was nowhere to be seen. Harry quickly swallowed a few mouthfuls of Mrs Weasley's mouth-watering soup before he asked. "Where's Yami?"

Everyone exchanged looks, Hermione took the lead in answering. "He arrived and everything seemed to go okay, then he smiled and everything went cold and frightening. Then he got angry and flashed out. You know; typical Yami." She gave a half hearted smile which told Harry that despite her desperate attempt at humour Yami had severely unnerved her.

Harry glanced down at Yugi, hoping for a smile and an eye roll which normally meant the Shade was just being temperamental. Instead Harry got a worried look before Yugi went back to his food. Mr Weasley took up the story. "Apparently he can't control himself around so few people. Harry I'm sorry but if this gets too dangerous he is going to have to leave."

Harry nodded and gave Yugi a significant look, they would have to talk about that. Harry ducked his head and finished off his meal in record time. As he stood up informing everyone that he was going to bed, Ron and Hermione joined him. They managed to get out of the kitchen without too much hassle, just Mrs Wealsy's continued attempts to stuff more food into him. Yugi wriggled out from under the table where he had disappeared after he had eaten. Apparently Mrs Weasley still unnerved him.

"I hope things aren't going to be too bad with Yami here." Ron said as he led the way up the stairs. Yugi sighed and spoke up. "Things are going to be bad, he is not happy."

Harry glanced down at the little elf as Ron held the door open for them all. "He didn't seem bothered when I told him we were leaving?"

Yugi nodded sadly, but to all their surprise it was Yami who replied. The Shade had been waiting for them in the room and now took human form with the easy grace which had come from lots of practice last year. "I did not realise there would be this few humans in such a small space. It poses problems."

Hermione gave him a wary smile as she sat down on Ron's bed. Harry and Ron dropped onto the mattress set up for Harry and Yugi climbed into Harry's lap.

"What kind of problems?" Hermione asked her eyes gaining the curious look that they were all so familiar with.

Yami shrugged, "I can survive on my reserves and the strength which Yugi gives me until we return to Hogwarts. That is not the problem with being here." He paused in thought for such a long time that Harry wondered if he had forgotten them. Yami sighed and looked up. "It is not easy for me to explain how my magic works to humans who barely understand the use of their own." His eyes flickered to Yugi. "I will try."

"My magic consists of three main types, offensive, defensive and energy. Offensive magic's are the magic that you see largely as shadows, that magic allows me to attack and destroy. Defensive magic's are those which Shade's use for their boundary spells around their territories and is also the magic that you see me using to absorb or reflect your spells. They can also appear as shadows. The last magic, the energy magic's are the ones which we use to cause the emotions we feed on to appear in humans, primarily fear. They are largely innate and invisible to humans, but obviously you can feel them. Older Shades like me can suppress those innate magic's to a degree, but we can't hold them at bay for long periods of time." Yami shrugged again and watched them.

Harry thought long and hard for a few moments, Yugi took the choice out of his hands. "If you leave here now you can't come back. You will only tire yourself out if you have to keep crossing the spells and I don't think the adults would agree to removing the anti-Shade spells totally and relying only on your boundary spells for protection against other Shades." The elf's soft voice trailed off before he started again. "I think I can help you suppress your magic." He turned his head. "With Harry's help. It won't be comfortable, but I want you to be close."

Yami's face was unreadable as he nodded his permission. Yugi glanced over at Harry who was about as confused as he could get. "Give me your hand Harry and call up as much of the earth magic as you can. We are going to need a lot of it."

Harry did as the imperious little elf said and closed his eyes to call up the magic. Hermione and Ron were watching silently. To Harry's eyes, when he opened them, Yugi was almost consumed by the glow of the power that he drew up. The white light was partly threaded by strands of bright purple light; Yugi's own elfin magic. Yami came forwards and settled cross legged on the ground in front of them.

Yugi's grip on Harry's hand tightened and the magic that Harry drew up began to drain into his charge.

Yugi's lips were moving silently as he reached out and placed one tiny hand on Yami's shadowy cheek. The Shade sat bolt upright, his ruby eyes went wide and he began to shake. Whatever Yugi was doing obviously wasn't pleasant.

The glow that was the earth magic began to thread through the intricate pattern of shadows that Harry could now see made up Yami's human form. Harry had never seen such a strange and impossible pattern. While all his energy poured into Yugi, Harry took the time to examine the shadows which were Yami's actual form and wonder how on earth they managed to become something like a human.

Then it was over.

Yugi dropped his hand and released Harry. The human felt as though he had been put through the drier, all twisted and shrivelled and he slumped over. Yami's response was a little more drastic. The Shade shot across the room so fast that Harry wondered if he had apparated there. The small slim figure curled itself up, his face hidden in shadows and then behind his arms. Yami was shaking badly and it took Harry's magic befuddled mind a moment to realise that Yugi was too.

As Harry pulled Yugi into his lap he noticed that the elf was crying silently. Harry wrapped him in a hug, Yugi had hated hurting Yami like that. Necessary as it may have been.

Hermione whispered goodnight and left, she seemed unnerved by what had happened. Ron climbed into his own bed and looked over at Yami, still shaking in the corner. Harry gave him an uncertain smile and pulled his covers up, still dressed. Yugi curled up next to him and the two of them fell asleep, exhausted by the effort that had put into one spell.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Yami felt wrong, dirty and out of shape. Yugi had solidified his human form at the same time as he had suppressed Yami's latent magic. The Shade glanced over at the three sleeping figures, for once wishing that he could lose himself in the mindlessness of sleep as they did.

He very carefully probed the extent of the spells that now lay in heavy folds over him. In order to take his true form again he would have to make a concerted effort and break those spells, though the ability was there.

All his magic would work normally, he would still be able to force emotion out of the humans and his senses of the emotions still worked. It was simply the latent spells which existed in his outer self which were repressed. Yami curled himself up tighter; it would take a few days to get used to this. His mind settled into rest, he just hoped that this hadn't hurt Yugi too much.

* * *

_I hope it doesn't seem like the earth magic is turning into a 'solve every problem' kind of thing, because there are certainly things that it can't do. This was really just a means to an end, I couldn't think of another way to stop Yami from being...well Yami._


	3. The Morning After

_For some strange reason in finishing the end of the last chapter, everything suddenly became much easier to write. _

_Those creative juices are flowing. Happy me!_

Chapter 3: The Morning After

Yami's rest was disturbed the next morning when Yugi padded over and stroked his arm. The elf was upset. He was worried that he had hurt Yami badly last night. Yami uncurled slowly and reached out and drew the tiny creature into his lap, hugging him tightly. /I am fine, just a little shaken./ Yami told him silently.

Yugi hugged him back, pressing his face into Yami's now very solid chest. He was still tired from his exertions with the earth magic. Yami glanced over at Harry's sleeping form, the human would be just as worn, if not more so when he woke.

The two of them sat together until Harry and Ron woke. There had been a great deal of movement around the house, but neither of them had felt a great desire to investigate. The noise was however enough to wake the two humans.

Yami watched as Harry stirred and sat up. The human stretched and then reached for his glasses. Once he had pushed them up his nose and looked down he realised that Yugi was no longer asleep next to him. Harry began to search through his bedclothes frantically. Until Yugi giggled softly and waved to him from Yami's lap.

Yami could sense the relief from Harry and was pleasantly surprised to find out that with the thick layers of earth and elf magic on him the emotion didn't give him the stabbing headache that it normally would.

Yugi gave him a smile and stood up to go over to Harry and a drowsy looking Ron. /See there are benefits/. Yami rolled his eyes and turned to look at the door as two irritable humans approached it. One of the emotional signatures he recognised as Hermione, when the door opened the second was revealed as Ron's sister.

Each of them gave him a smile. Hermione's gaze became slightly curious as they sat down to complain about someone to Harry. Ron had gone red and was trying to oppose them while being impossibly embarrassed; to a point where Yami actually felt the slightest trickle of energy flowing into him. Yami straightened himself carefully, trying to ensure that his magically created body didn't cramp.

As he was further investigating the spells which now bound him there was another knock at the door. Yami readied himself once again recognising the energy which came from behind the door. It was the Veela.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Harry looked up at Fleur and smiled, despite himself. A soft low hiss came from Yami's corner. The Shade looked tired, his blood red eyes were dim and he was still slightly curled up on himself. Nonetheless he was trying to defend them. Fleur shook out her hair and glared at Yami before turning her attention back to Harry. "'ello 'arry, I am so glad to see you." She kissed him expressively on both cheeks.

Her eyes flickered back to Yami. "Why do you put up with such a 'orrible creature?"

This time Yami's hiss had a little more spice to it and he unfolded a little more, making as though he was about to stand up. Yugi made a slight warning noise and Yami settled back down his eyes flashing.

"What's wrong?" Harry asked the two of them. He hoped that Yami wasn't going to attack Fleur, while he didn't think that Mrs Weasley would mind getting rid of her he did think that it would the last straw.

Ginny and Hermione were looking at Fleur like they were willing to egg Yami on in a fight with her. Ron looked desperately lovestruck.

Yami growled softly. "Shades do not like Veela."

Hermione gave a sort of muffled laugh. "Do Shade's actually like anyone?" Harry grinned at her, she had a point.

Yami shrugged, "No." He replied.

Fleur turned to leave. '" will not stand for tricks from you, Shade." She said and left in a glorious huff.

Harry suddenly found that he could breathe a little easier. Yugi smiled up at him and shook his head. Harry wasn't surprised that Yugi wasn't affected by Fleur's Veela charms. If Yugi and the only other elf Harry had ever met, a male, were anything to go by, their females probably made even the most stunning Veela look plain.

Harry pulled over the breakfast plate and started to eat, he was starving hungry and to his own surprise as well as all the others humans in the room he cleaned the whole tray which was supposed to feed Yugi and Ron as well. He was still hungry too.

"Sorry." Harry muttered. Ron glared at him as he examined the empty plate. Yugi shrugged and hummed something absently. Since Harry had learnt that the soft music was in fact Yugi's native language he looked over to Yami. The Shade always understood what Yugi said.

Yami was getting gingerly to his feet, testing out his range of movements while he answered. "You are tired from using so much earth magic last night. You will need to eat a lot to recover the energy you used."

Hermione nodded fiercely, Harry wondered how her head didn't just roll off her neck when she did that. "Of course earth magic relies more on the physical strength of the person calling it up than wizard magic does. It makes sense that you would have to replace that energy."

Yami glared at her as he walked over to them. Harry watched the Shades progress across the room. Despite Yami's obvious discomfort in his form he still managed to move with more grace than Harry could manage on his best day. "Be careful of speaking on things which you do not understand." He told Hermione, her smile faded.

Yugi whistled the noise which meant he was telling the Shade off. Yami ignored him and glanced down at the empty tray. "You should find more food." He informed Harry calmly. "Yugi will need to eat as well."

"Not to mention me." Ron grumbled.

Harry nodded and got to his feet. He felt a bit stiff and sore, as though he had just played a full game of Quidditch. He made a mental note to note use that much earth magic again unless he had to.

Ginny made a noise and Harry turned to look at her. She was looking at Yami. "Are you sure that it's a good idea for you to come downstairs, you weren't exactly a hit with mum last night?'

Harry gaped at her, even Yami seemed impressed that Ginny was willing to talk to him like he was human. It was something that Harry only did because he knew that Yami would never hurt him. Ginny had guts.

Yami tilted his head slightly. "Your people will have to become used to me eventually, I am not going anywhere as long as Yugi is here."

Ginny nodded, "Just don't expect mum to be happy about it, not with Fleur here as well."

Yami lifted an eyebrow. "Why would I care if a human is unhappy?"

Ginny grinned as she and the others got up to follow Harry downstairs. "Good point."

They all trooped downstairs with Yami carrying Yugi to find Mrs. Weasley smashing around the kitchen. Yami actually purred as he stepped into the now overly crowded room. The noise made Mrs. Weasley spin around to look at them. Her face brightened slightly as she looked at Harry and then darkened when they settled on the smirking Yami. With a supreme effort she turned back to Harry. "Harry dear, how are you feeling?"

"Hungry Mrs. Weasley, can we have something more to eat?" Harry wriggled around and sat at the table. Everyone else took their places, Yugi was set on the chair next to Harry and Yami took a position behind them leaning against the wall.

The Shade looked like he was on guard, but as Mrs. Weasley began to fill plates for them all he spoke. "Harry and Yugi will need a lot of food. They used a great deal of magic last night in restricting my magic."

Mrs. Weasley paused and looked at him, then turned to Harry. "Harry you can't use magic outside of Hogwarts you are still underage."

Harry had already received his first plate of food and was in the process of scoffing it down so Yami had to reply for him. "They did not use human magic. It would have been ineffective; Harry assisted Yugi in an elfin spell."

Yugi made a soft noise around his mouthful of toast and gave the Shade a warning look. Harry realised that Yugi didn't want to tell the adults about the earth magic.

Mrs. Weasley watched in awe as Harry and Yugi put away a veritable mountain of food. Yami just watched them with a smile on his face. When Harry could finally eat nothing else he leant back in his chair. "Thanks Mrs Weasley that was great!"

Yugi made another noise, this time of appreciation. Yami glanced down at the elf who was now starting to doze off. "He says thank you and there are three owls trying to come in your window."

Yami's gaze had shifted to the window and the three birds now sitting on the sill. Hermione gave a soft scream and jumped to her feet. "Our OWLS."

Harry blinked and remembered that Dumbledore had told him that their results would be arriving today, everything from last night had put it out of his mind. Ron looked pale as his mother opened the window and the three owls hopped into the room. They each held out their legs attached to which was a piece of sealed parchment.

Harry removed the one marked with his name with shaking fingers. Inside the envelope the first thing that fell into his hand was a small red and gold badge, he blinked at it stupidly for a moment. "I'm Quidditch Captain." He said confused, it hadn't been what he was expecting. Hermione was so engaged with her OWL results that she didn't even look up, Ron however congratulated him heartily. "Knew it would be you mate." Yugi looked less than pleased. He only liked Quidditch when Harry wasn't playing.

Harry pulled out the parchment with his results on it and then had to read it several times over before he actually took in his marks:

_Defence Against the Dark Arts: Outstanding_

_Divination: Poor_

_Potions: Exceeds Expectations_

_Astronomy: Exceeds Expectations_

_History of Magic: Acceptable_

_Charms: Exceeds Expectations_

_Transfiguration: Exceeds Expectations_

_Care of Magical Creatures: Exceeds Expectations_

_Herbology: Exceeds Expectations_

Harry breathed a sigh of relief. He had passed everything except Divination, which didn't come as surprise. He had done better in History of Magic than he thought he would, thanks to Yami's help last year and Acceptable was about as good as he had expected seeing as he hadn't even finished the exam.

Ron shuffled over holding his own paper and looking as relieved as Harry felt. "How'd you do?" He asked, Harry handed over his parchment and took Ron's in exchange. His friend had done well, though not as well as he had. Ron looked at him impressed. "Knew you'd get Outstanding in DADA, but how'd you do so well in Astronomy?"

Harry couldn't stop a quick glance at Yami. The Shade had actually finished that exam off for him while Harry tended to Yugi. Yami apparently knew something about stars. Yami winked at Harry as he glanced that way, the Shade seemed rather pleased with his result.

"Got lucky I guess." Harry told Ron and accepted back his paper. Hermione had shuffled close and was looking freaked. Mrs Weasley had become distracted with congratulating Ron loudly, making Yami roll his eyes and Yugi giggle.

"Harry, how did you do?" Hermione asked. Harry exchanged his parchment again. Hermione had received Outstanding in everything except DADA, which she got an Exceeds Expectations. Harry grinned at her and congratulated her. Hermione gave him a tight smile, she actually seemed disappointed.

Their small celebrations were interrupted by Yami's low soft growl. Mrs Weasley went for her wand, but Yugi was on his feet and pointing at the door his stance preventing Yami from making any move for the door. Moments later a loud knock sounded on Weasley's kitchen door.

Everyone froze. Yami's reaction meant that whoever was on the other side of that door was someone he didn't know. Mrs Weasley stepped over with her wand raised and opened the door. Standing on the doorstep looking forlorn was Tonks. Mrs Weasley relaxed as everyone else did. Yami however glanced first at Harry, the Shade had shadows running all over his body. Harry nodded that the young woman was okay and the shadows dispersed. Yami went back to leaning against the wall.

Tonks walked into the already crowded kitchen and gave them all weak smiles. She was so distracted that she even included Yami in the look, the Shade lifted an eye brow and made an uncharacteristically graceless movement, he staggered. He frowned and Yugi laughed at him.

Tonk's sat at the table and Mrs. Weasley immediately began to make her breakfast. Harry exchanged a look with Ron and they nodded. Harry picked up his giggling elf and everyone followed him out, Yami included. Harry glanced at Yugi, "What was that all about?" He looked at Yami who was glaring at Yugi.

Yugi looked over at Yami and laughed again. The Shade's eyes narrowed further. "I still have to get use to remaining in human form constantly."

It took Harry a long moment to work out what he meant. Then he grinned. "You tried to move off in shadow form and nearly stacked it didn't you."

"Shut up or I will kill you." The Shade grumbled and stalked off around the corner leaving the five of them laughing uproariously.

* * *

_Ah fun with Yami what more can you want in life._


	4. Diagon Alley and Shadow Spies

Chapter 4: Diagon Alley and Shadow Spies

The last few weeks at the Burrow had been so restful that for the first time Harry was unwilling to go back to Hogwarts. Yami would happily babysit Yugi if Harry wanted some time alone. This gave Harry some much appreciated time to himself, time to wonder what his lessons with Dumbledore would entail.

The adults had become more used to Yami's presence, though everyone still jumped and got nervous whenever he prowled into the room. Unfortunately when Yami realised that the adults got nervous around him he made an effort to leap out and surprise them whenever he got the chance. Harry would have told him to cut it out, but Yami seemed to be having a great deal of fun with it, so Harry kept his mouth shut.

Harry had noticed, however, that the longer they spent at the Burrow the more restless Yami got. The Shade had told him that he was now used to the confining spells which Yugi had put on him, though he would still be glad when they were removed when they went back to Hogwarts. It seemed that it wasn't the spells which were upsetting him, it was the lack of space. The Burrow's area was not nearly as large as the territory that Yami had marked out for himself back Little Whinging and no where near the size of Hogwarts.

Their time at the Burrow was coming to an end though, something that Harry had mixed feelings about.

Harry, Ron, Ginny and Hermione were waiting out the front for Mrs Weasley to take them to Diagon Alley. They were watching Yami and Yugi hold an apparently heat argument in elfish.

This was the first time that any of them had heard Yami use the soft musical language and it made Harry very nervous for some reason.

The door opened behind them and Mrs Weasley stepped out, she stopped in her tracks as her eyes caught the elf and Shade arguing and blinked. "What are they doing?" She asked. Mrs Weasley seemed a little startled to hear Yugi's clear voice. She had never heard anything more than a few soft mutters from the tiny elf. This rather vocal argument however was very different.

Harry shrugged. Yugi had informed him over summer that elfish was fiendishly difficult to learn. According to Yami it had taken him years to learn, making Harry wonder again at how old Yugi really was, also killing any wish that Harry had to learn the language. Quite frankly he had enough on his plate. "I think they are arguing." Harry told he concerned woman.

Mrs Weasley nodded absently and fingered her wand. Of course Harry's assumption was totally based on the fact that Yami looked frustrated and he never saw that look on the Shade's face unless Yugi was being stubborn.

After another few moments of strange music Harry yelled over at the two. "We're going."

Yugi immediately turned on his toe and ran up into a startled Harry's arms. Yami was half a step behind him and stopped when he was standing right in front of Harry, nose to nose. Well almost, Harry had grown again so it was more like nose to collar bone. Despite this Harry still felt as though he was looking up at Yami.

The Shade's voice was very low and soft and standing this close Harry could smell that strange metallic scent which seemed to be totally unique to Yami. "He is determined to go with you. As I cannot leave this accursed place it is up to you to protect him. If he comes back with so much as a red mark on him I will hang you upside-down and use you as a punching bag." Yami stepped back and stalked off.

Harry was left gobsmacked he wasn't sure whether or not to take Yami seriously. Judging from Yugi's eye roll the elf wasn't, but Harry wasn't completely certain.

Mrs Weasley looked over at the Shade's retreating back and then cleared her throat. "Well shall we go then?"

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Yami paced around the house at the very edges of the anti-Shade spells. On this side of the spells Yami could only feel them when he was almost walking over the top of them. He kicked at a stone, he wasn't sure what he was going to do for the next few hours until everyone came back.

Yami wasn't used to staying so still, he was a roaming creature, even if it was only roaming within a set area. The area was normally considerably larger than the tiny space he had at the moment.

The human spells around the house twitched and Yami turned to weave his way back to the front of the house where two humans were arriving. Yami knew these two humans, they had both visited before. One was a grizzled old human with several pieces of him missing; he scared Yugi a little and even startled a lot of the adults when he spoke. The other was a werewolf and it was only because he was there that Yami stepped out from his shadowy cover and strolled across the lawn towards them.

Both wizards touched their wands. It was starting to turn into a nervous twitch for all of these humans. Yami stopped a few feet away and waited, they were here with a purpose and he had to assume that the purpose was him because he was the only one left.

The werewolf finally spoke up while the other human watched warily. "Could we speak with you?" He asked politely.

Yami shrugged noncommittally and went inside and waited for the two humans to follow. He liked being abrupt, while it unsettled the humans it gave him time to focus on listening to what they were saying.

Initially Yami considered the werewolf. Shades didn't mind werewolves, in fact they use to be quite welcome within a Shade's territory. Wizards were terrified of werewolves and the Shades would welcome the fresh fear that these half-humans induced. As such it had become common courtesy to not use your fear spells on a werewolf. From what Yami had heard this had simply enhanced the fear that humans had for werewolves as anyone of that blood could now walk unharmed through a 'Shade infested' area.

Yami had laughed himself silly a few weeks ago after finding that statement in a book that belonged to Hermione.

The humans took seats at the table across from where Yami sat. They exchanged a glance and the werewolf once again took the lead. "Since it seems that you will be remaining with Harry for some time, and Dumbledore tells us that you are opposed to Voldemort, we were wondering if there was anything that you could do to help the Order?"

Yami cocked an eyebrow. This was interesting, especially considering that for the last few months of last year he had had his darkings following the members of their Order around to determine what it was that they were doing. "What kind of help were you thinking of?" Working with these humans would give him both something to do and the provide the possibility of getting revenge on Voldemort. Something that was becoming increasingly high on his list of thing Yami really wanted to do.

The werewolf shifted uncomfortably. "Well last year Dumbledore told us that you seemed to know more about what the Order was doing than you should have, how did you do that?"

Yami growled thoughtfully, despite the fact that the noise was totally nonthreatening both the humans in front of him grabbed their wands. Yami ignored them and answered the question. "I cannot tell you how I gathered the information without breaking the laws of my own people. However I can set my spy network around those who follow Voldemort instead of your own people." Yami toyed with a darking which had crept into the magic stained kitchen. "It will take some time for me to organise, however it will be much more effective than anything that you can devise." He smirked at them. "Shades are much better at subterfuge than humans."

The grizzly human spoke for the first time. "What makes you think You-Know-Who won't be able to detect whatever you are doing?"

Yami wound the little shadow around his fingers, part of his mind was already planning the numbers of darkings that he would need. Thankfully the number of darkings that lived in the Hogwarts Forest was so large that he could easily have every Death Eater and their family followed individually. The other part of his mind could tell that the human was trying to get him to reveal how he was planning on spying. "Humans cannot detect Shade magic." Yami commented noncommittally. He remained thoughtfully silently for a few more moments and the werewolf leant forwards eagerly.

"What about dementors?" The grizzled human asked still turning his wand over in his fingers. The old humans bright blue magical eye wizzed around in his head to focus on Yami.

Yami tilted his head slightly. "Dementors will not meddle with Shade magic. They know that we would kill any of them that interfered." The dementors could detect darkings to a degree, but they never considered them a threat. Especially because they were everywhere. Yami's spies would be able to blend in with the local populations.

The human looked doubtful so Yami continued with part of his mind still on his developing plan. "Just because humans have trouble with dementors does not mean that all other races do. You humans are so weak that you are affected by everything. Shades are so powerful that we are affected by almost nothing." Except earth magic...and elves.

With his calculations finished Yami filled in the humans with as much detail as he would ever be giving them about this spy service. "You will have to wait while I set up the magic, these things take time. I will inform Dumbledore of anything that I discover. That will be easier than contacting either of you. Was that all?" Yami assumed that Dumbledore was in on this spying idea, he was supposedly in charge of the Order after all.

The werewolf sighed and nodded. "That was all. Just one thing, don't tell Harry, Hermione or Ron you are doing this." After a moment's pause he added. "Or Yugi for that matter, do we understand each other?"

This was obviously meant to be threatening so Yami shrugged and lied. "Of course." He would tell his three humans everythig. Largely because he thought that Harry deserved a bit of revenge as well and Yami couldn't keep anything from Yugi. However there was no need for these adults to know that.

They both rose and nodded to him. "We appreciate this." And they were gone. Yami stretched, well that had wasted a little time. He made his way back out into the garden and stretched out in a shady patch to perfect his plans, the single darking keeping him company.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Harry glanced around, quickly scanning the ground around him and then peering through the crowd. He had thought that it would be safe enough to bring Yugi to Diagon Alley. He hadn't reckoned with the crowd.

The little elf had insisted on walking, twisting and wriggling desperately whenever Harry picked him up, however on foot he was continuously lost in the crowd. Harry was starting to get desperate. Yugi was far too curious of the numerous human things around him. He had dashed around Gringotts and ogled the various shop fronts, constantly lost in the sea of legs. At least at Gringotts the goblins all treated Yugi with that sense of awe that the House Elves showed him which made it easy to keep track of Yugi. Their reactions had only served to increase Harry's sense that he didn't know everything there was to know about Yugi.

They were heading for their first stop after the bank, Madame Malkin's and Harry was still having trouble keeping track of the curious elf.

"Harry" Hermione called out and pointed. Harry turned his head in the direction she indicated just in time to catch a quick glimpse of tri-coloured hair flash between two people. Harry lunged, ignoring the people he knocked over and away as he did. Their shouts and grumbles were well worth it when his fingers closed around Yugi's shirt hem. The elfin made fabric held firm and Yugi struggled as he was once again lifted into Harry's arms.

"Will you stop, you'll get lost here." Harry snapped, he was hot and irritable and they still had to get most of their school things. Yugi looked up into his face and sighed. He wriggled around again, but this was no longer an attempt to escape just his usual getting comfortable.

"Thank you." Harry said grudgingly. Yugi made a dissatisfied noise and turned his attention back to the bustling street. Harry pushed his way through the crowd into Madame Malkin's where Ron and Hermione were waiting. "Found him." Ron said with a grin. "I still think it would have been a riot to have Yami along."

Hermione made a shushing noise as Madame Malkin bustled over away from the other people in the shop. Harry stiffened at the sight of the others. Malfoy and his mother, buying dress robes. Draco's mother, as pale as he was, had glanced over at them with disgust and hatred. Yugi shuddered and leant into Harry's chest. Harry twisted away from them, protecting Yugi from both of their eyes.

As Madame Malkin came towards him Harry had to force himself to put Yugi down, even when he did Yugi stayed close. That was something novel for the day.

The robe-maker smiled down at Yugi. "Does he need something too dear?"

Yugi looked up at her and smiled. Harry told the woman that it was only the three of them who needed clothes. Yugi had resupplied himself with new clothes after their visit to the nearby elfin village before the end of school last year.

As Madame Malkin bustled away to get their new robes Harry considered the possibility of blasting Malfoy with earth magic. He opened his mind thoughtfully and looked around to see how much magic was around. It had taken Yami a few days over the two weeks that they had spent at the Dursley's to teach Harry exactly how to look for the innate earth magic within the world itself. Now Harry could almost do it without thinking.

Yugi clicked his tongue in the scolding noise he often used with Yami. Harry had never had the sound directed at him, but now realised why Yami reacted so quickly to it. Harry's face heated up in embarrassment and released the magic, promising himself that he would get Malfoy when they got back to school.

Malfoy and his mother left before they were done and by the time Harry was back on the street they had both disappeared into the crowd.

Yugi was once again trying to examine everything at once, this time from the better viewing height of Harry's arms. All of a sudden Yugi went perfectly still, moments later Harry was hit with exactly the same sensation. They had arrived at the Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. Fred and George's shop was an explosion of colour and movement. Yugi's eyes got even wider as he watched the shop. Harry could feel his eyes watering from the flashes and colour from the shop front.

"That is so cool." Ron gaped and pushed through the door. Mr and Mrs Weasley followed Harry and Hermione into the shop looking stunned. Harry finally allowed Yugi to wander on his own, mainly so that he could have his hands free to pick up and examine the various products that stood on shelves and in buckets. He recognised the Skiving Snackboxes that the twins had perfected last year, he also saw vanishing hats and hundreds of other prank products. "Harry!" A familiar voice called over the crowd and Harry turned to see Fred making his way towards him through the crush of people. "Hey Fred, looks like you're doing alright." Harry grinned at Ron's brother.

Fred laughed. "Too right, would you like the royal tour?" His eyes flashed teasingly at Harry and then flicked down. Yugi had wriggled through the crowd to tug on Fred's bright magenta robes. The elf smiled up at Fred who grinned down at him. "Howdy Yugi." He paused and looked around before leaning towards Harry conspiratorially. "No Yami?"

Harry smiled and shook his head. "No, he's still at the Burrow, but he wants to see you." Harry paused to think about that. "Well I think he does, you know Yami it's hard to tell what he wants."

Fred laughed. "We were thinking of coming for a visit. Word got around that Hogwarts fought back after we left. George and I feel that we owe him a thank you." Harry laughed with the twin. Yami's tricks last year had driven Umbridge to distraction, finally ending with her resignation after he had revealed his Shade self to her. Since Harry hd heard nothing about a Shade at Hogwarts in the _Daily Phrophet_ he assumed that either she had said nothing or no one had believed her.

Harry and Yugi followed Fred around the shop, meeting up with George. The other twin showed the same eagerness to reconnect with the Shade who had helped them with one of their most successful pranks. Harry was glad that someone wasn't at all concerned or nervous about meeting Yami.

Mrs Weasley arrived at that moment and looked hassled if pleased at the success of her two son's enterprise. "Well you both seem to have done well for yourselves, I am pleased." She went on that way with both the twins looking both cheerful and confused at the same time. As Mrs Weasley leant over them both Harry caught a glimpse over her shoulder into the street. Malfoy was pushing his way quickly through the street throwing covert glances over his shoulder.

"Now where are you going?" Harry murmured to himself and made his way through the crowded shop to the door. Yugi was pulling insistently on his jeans shaking his head desperately. Harry glanced down at him as he pulled his Invisibility Cloak out of his pocket and threw it over his head. "You can stay here. I just want to see what he is doing." Yugi gave a great sigh and lifted up the hem of the cloak and stepped underneath it. Harry bent quickly to pick him up and then hurried off after Malfoy.

"Yami is going to kill you." Yugi said threateningly.

Harry grinned at him. "What he doesn't know won't hurt him and remember no one can see us under this." Yugi tried to frown, but ended up laughing instead and tried to peer through the translucent folds of the cloak to see where they were going. Harry pushed through the crowds drawing strange and frightened looks from the people he nudged aside.

They finally spotted Malfoy turning down Knockturn Alley. Harry was glad he was under the Invisibility Cloak as this wasn't exactly the kind of place he usually liked to be. The street was deserted, but this only served to make it all the more intimidating.

Malfoy hurried into a shop near to the corner between the two alleys. Borgin and Bourkes. Harry stoped at the window and looked through disappointed, he could hear nothing and there was no way for him to get inside without revealing himself.

Harry fumbled in his pocket for the Extendable Ear that he had swiped from the pile near the door of the Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. He stuck the end in his own ear and Yugi leaned close listening intently with his far better hearing.

The two of them listened eagerly as Malfoy spoke. "Do you know how to fix it?"

"Possibly." Borgin's voice was sullen. Apparently he wasn't happy about having to deal with Malfoy. "It would be easier if you could bring it into the shop."

Malfoy snorted. "I can't it has to stay put, just tell me how to do it."

Borgin shifted nervously and Harry leant forwards trying to see into the shop. "Without seeing it, the task will be difficult perhaps even impossible..."

"Really, maybe this will change your mind." Harry leant sideways to see what it was that Malfoy was showing a now terrified Borgin, but Malfoy was hidden behind a large cabinet. Harry hissed in annoyance, Yugi pinched him gently warning him to be quiet.

Borgin was now almost falling over himself in an attempt to do everything that Malfoy wanted.

As Malfoy swept out of the shop Harry reeled in the Extendable Ear and stepped back to allow him past.

Harry was thinking furiously as he made his way back to Diagon Alley. What did Malfoy want and what had he shown Borgin? He was so distracted by his thoughts that their arrival back at the Weasley's Wizard Wheezes was a total surprise.

Yugi shuddered slightly as Harry put him down and folded the Cloak into his pocket. The elf gave him a sideways look. "Definitely not something we need to tell Yami about." He straightened his shirt and trotted back into Fred and George's shop.

It took Harry a few minutes to insist that he and Yugi had been in the shop the whole time. He was helped along by Yugi's wide eyes and cheery smile.

After some convincing Mrs Weasley relented. As she led them back to the Leaky Cauldron ready to head back to the Burrow Harry gave Hermione and Ron suggestive looks trying to communicate to them that he had something to tell them.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Yami couldn't stop himself from waiting for Yugi and Harry to return by the front gate. Yugi smiled at him as he wriggled free of Harry's arms and skipped over to say hello. Yami lifted the tiny elf into his own arms and hugged him fiercely while checking him over for any injuries. Yugi giggled, /You really are a cross between an overexcited puppy and a mother duck/. Yami ignored him.

He was in some ways a little disappointed to find that Yugi was unharmed, he would have enjoyed tormenting Harry a little.

The human looked thoughtful as they made their way inside. Yami followed them thinking carefully as Yugi passed on what they had heard the marked human talk about. Yugi had skipped over exactly where and how they had been listening in on this conversation and Yami decided that he wouldn't ask. He didn't think that he would like the answer.

Harry, Ron and Hermione all made their way up the stairs to Ron and Harry's room. Once they were all settled down Harry explained what he and Yugi had discovered. Ron and Hermione looked concerned. "Wonder what he was talking about?" Ron mused.

Hermione glanced over at Yami. "What do you think?" She asked him.

Yami shrugged. "Why should I care?"

All four of them waited patiently so Yami added. "He is planning something, what it is I do not know. For the moment it would be wise to watch and wait."

Yugi smiled. "That is an immortal for you, everything comes to those who wait."

Yami rolled his eyes at Yugi and looked at Harry. The human didn't look pleased with Yami's theory, instead he asked. "Once we are back at Hogwarts could you keep an eye on him for us?"

Yami looked at him calmly, the request from the Order offered him a way to seek some revenge on the non-human, this did not. "I am not at your beck and call Harry. If you want to know what this human is doing you will have to keep an eye on him yourself."

With the earth magic preventing him from making his usual dramatic exit he substituted by leaning back onto the wall triumphantly.

The humans looked a little uncertain, but they leant together and continued to discuss what had happened.

Yami shrugged and went back downstairs. Yugi had dozed off so now he had nothing to do. Ron's mother was in the kitchen cooking. The smells made Yami's nose itch so he hurried past. Once outside he settled down under a tree to listen to the gossip about the other Shades from the three darkings who had now found him.

* * *

_I hope you enjoyed the chapter._

_This story is going to follow the general pattern of the Half-Blood Prince, but there are a few other new elements which will turn up as well._


	5. Hogwart's Bound

Chapter 5: Hogwart's Bound

Harry checked through his trunk for the last time, making sure he had everything.

Everyone had experienced issues with things disappearing today. The twins had visited yesterday and for the first time since Harry had arrived at the Burrow, Harry could see that Yami was actually happy.

Both the twins had greeted Yami as though he was nothing more than the spirit of Hogwarts they had believed him to be all of last year. Things had gotten interesting after that. The twins were considered to be the Prank Kings of Hogwarts; if this was true then Yami had earned himself the title of Emperor. The Shade's ability to alter any magic, be it latent earth magic or preset human spells, meant that anything that the Weasley twins had been unable to do he could pull off effortlessly.

Mrs Weasley had spent the whole day running around trying to keep track of exactly what the three of them were doing. Fred and George claimed they were testing their products. Yami ignored all questions directed at him.

Harry didn't doubt that there would be some new products appearing at the Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes in the next few weeks.

The Shade had almost been sad to see them go, though the twins had both promised that they would be at the Burrow over Christmas if he decided to come. Mrs Weasley didn't look very pleased at that, but she had already invited Harry and Yugi back and it would have been rude to refuse Yami as well. Yami hadn't given an answer he had simply looked thoughtful.

Harry grinned as he dropped onto his bed. He was ready to sleep so he looked around for Yugi, but the little elf had disappeared a while ago with Yami. Harry shrugged and took of his glasses already dozing off. Then the door opened, Harry groaned and dragged his eyes open to see Yami walk followed by a blurry trio that Harry assumed were Yugi, Hermione and Ron. Harry had given up trying to work out how he could always seem Yami's human form with startling clarity and fumbled for his glasses. Everyone looked like they were trying to be quiet.

"What's wrong?" Harry asked as Yugi wandered over and climbed onto his lap.

The elf shrugged. "Yami wants to talk to us."

Hermione and Ron had taken seats on Ron's bed and everyone turned to look at the Shade who was settling down on the second mattress that had been squeezed into Ron's room for Yami to rest on. Yami watched them back for a few moments before he replied. "I wanted to tell you sooner, but I have been thinking and your mother is very bothersome." Ron grinned at that. Mrs Weasley and Yami still didn't get along at all.

Yami smirked back and continued. "When you went to get your school things two of the adults from the Order of the Phoenix came by to speak with me."

Harry's eyebrows went up. Why would the Order actively seek out a Shade?

Yami went on. "They wondered how I had known some of the things I did last year and have asked me to spy on the Death Eaters for them."

Harry blinked. He had assumed that the strange Shade-like shadow that had invaded Dumbledore's office that year, which Yami had named 'darkings' were what he had used before. Harry had been forbidden from mentioning them and had kept his promise. He wondered if Yami would be using them again.

"They want your help?" Hermione asked obviously confused.

Yami nodded. "I have a way to follow the Death Eaters that is far more effective than any spy you humans could manage, so I have agreed, I would like a little revenge on Voldemort."

True to form Ron flinched as Yami named the dark wizard, Yugi tilted his head. "They didn't want you to tell us did they?"

Harry ground his teeth as Yami nodded. "They do not want to worry you. I think you are owed some revenge of your own, so I told them I would not tell you so do not let on you know. I will pass on any information that my spies gather to you, you can help me sort out important from unimportant."

Harry grinned. "I'm glad you're on our side Yami." Harry was glad, the Shade didn't care about whether or not they were old enough, he just told them what he thought.

The Shade shrugged and leant back into his mattress. "There is nothing else." Hermione snuck out of their room and Ron got changed for bed. Harry closed his eyes as Yugi settled down next to him. The Order never learnt. He went to sleep smiling.

The next morning Harry proceeded to drag his trunk downstairs where everyone else was waiting. Yugi was seated on Hermione trunk singing to Crookshanks who seemed to be listening intently. Hermione was watching the two of them avidly while Ron was staring wistfully at Fleur who was talking at a bored looking Ginny. Harry looked around and went cold as his vision was partly obscured. Yami swirled around everyone and Harry grinned as everyone else shuddered. The Shade had finally been able to remove the earth magic which bound him and his magic and he was enjoying his ability to be back in his proper form.

Mrs Weasley shivered as Yami's shadows, perfectly visible in the morning sun made their way around the group to settle next to Yugi. The elf smiled and twined his fingers through the stranded shadow who curled around him.

"Everyone ready?" Mrs Weasley asked as two Ministry cars pulled up in front of the Burrow. Harry threw a quick glance at Yami, but the Shade had already hidden himself somewhere. Harry picked up Yugi and climbed into the first car, which was considerably larger on the inside than it appeared. The Ministry men magicked their trunks into the boot of the cars and everyone else climbed in.

A cold tingling tickled Harry's feet and he looked down casually to find Yami resting around their feet. Hermione, Ron and Ginny who were sitting next to him on the park-bench like back seat were all looking down as well and looked a little nervous. Harry leant back and turned his head to watch the countryside turn into London.

Aurors met them at King's Cross Station and escorted the whole group to the barrier between the Muggle Kings Cross and Platform 9 3/4.

Mrs and Mr Weasley seemed to be in a state of perpetual confusion, being more used to barely controlled chaos than this calm efficiency. "Through the barrier, quickly." Mrs Weasley nodded to Harry. An Auror stepped forward to grab Harry's arm and steer him through the barrier, the man was promptly hurled backwards by a now barely visible Yami.

The Shade hid himself quickly behind Harry's trolley and made the soft rumbling sound that was his laugh. Yugi rolled his eyes from where he sat on top of Harry's trunk and turned his attention back to the barrier. The other Aurors had pulled out their wands and were now looking around warily. The first Auror picked himself up and glared at Harry.

Harry glanced at the Auror. "I can walk." He told him and pushed his trolley through the barrier. As they exited the other side, Harry's Auror guard half a step behind him, Yugi giggled and whispered. "Nice exit."

Yami had disappeared into the crowd. With this many people no one would notice a stray shadow. Hermione and the Weasley's followed Harry through the barrier moments later and he grinned at them.

Ron grinned back and Hermione gave him a controlled smile. "Come on let's find a compartment." Harry said, determined to ignore the Auror standing nearby watching him.

Ron's face fell slightly as Hermione replied. "I'm sorry Harry, but we have to go to the prefects carriage and patrol the corridors for a while."

Harry sighed and nodded, at least this time he wouldn't be totally alone, though Ginny had wandered off to find her own friends Yugi was still there and Harry was sure that Yami would turn up eventually as well.

Harry dragged his trunk onto the train and was in the process of looking for an empty compartment, whispers echoing around him when he ran into Luna and Neville. Harry let out a sigh of relief it was always nice to find people to sit with, especially when it gave him an excuse to send the whispering girls away.

Yugi waved to both of them happily, though he still refused to talk in front of either of Harry's friends he seemed to be very fond of the two.

"Hey Harry, want to sit with us?" Neville asked while Luna bent down to say hello to Yugi.

"Sure." Harry said and followed them down the corridor.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Yami checked out every inch of the platform as he had been unable to do at the end of last year.

There was nothing more than the normal human spells for concealment, though under it all there were the remnants of the anti-Shade spells. He growled his amusement, Dumbledore.

The old wizard had promised that he would remove all the anti-Shade spells that he could to allow Yami back into Hogwarts, the only ones he would have to cross himself would be the ones around Hogwarts itself.

Yami headed back for the train as Yugi called that they were about to leave. All the children were on the train now with the adults standing on the platform below. Yami made his way down the length of the train until he reached the compartment that Harry and Yugi were in, along with Neville and Luna; the natural earth magic talent and the part blooded elf.

Yami went up to the window and threw a spell at it, there was a loud crack and Harry turned his head towards the window. Yugi waved from within the compartment and Harry leant over and opened the window allowing him in.

Yami settled into human form and allowed Yugi to add the colouring spells to his eyes, turning them dark violet. There was a flash of nervous fear from Neville, but the energy dissipated rapidly.

Yami greeted Neville and Luna with nods and then turned his attention to the door as it opened slightly to admit several young females. They were all giggling furiously and so focused on Harry that not one of them noticed the not entirely solid human sitting by the door.

"Hello Harry, I'm Romilda...you can come and sit with us if you like." She and her friends giggled again. Yugi smiled and shifted around to look at them, Harry looked uncomfortable. "I'm okay where I am thanks."

She giggled again. "You don't have to sit with them." She gave an accusatory look at a red faced Neville and a calm Luna before her eyes came and met Yami's. He glared at them and all five of them staggered back several steps. Enough that Yami could kick the sliding door shut in their faces.

Harry grinned at him, relief plain on his face. "Thanks Yami."

Yami shrugged and poked through Harry's things to find a pack of exploding Snap, a wizard game he had discovered was quiet enjoyable especially when played against humans.

Yugi settled back to watch as Yami, Neville and Harry began to play.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Harry looked up from Exploding Snap just in time to see that it was Hermione and Ron who were coming through the door. They each gave a smile and turned to say hello to Luna and Neville. Then Ron dropped into the seat next to Harry and jumped as the pack of cards exploded with its usual unexpected pop. Yami chuckled happily and picked up the deck.

Ron nudged Harry and grinned. "Guess what. Malfoy wasn't on prefect duty, he was just sitting in his compartment."

Harry raised his eye brows, "Wonder why?" It wasn't usual for Malfoy to lose a chance to exert his power over other students. Harry's mind was drawn back to Malfoy's mystery visit to Borgin and Burkes.

Ron shrugged and looked around for something to eat. It was at that point that the door opened again and an awestricken first year put his head through the space. "HarryPotterI'm suppposedtodelivethistoyoubye." He threw a rolled up piece of parchment at Harry and fled. Harry blinked and opened the roll. Yugi peeked over his arm to read through the invitation from Slughorn for both Harry and Neville. It also invited Harry's 'dear little elf'.

Yugi snorted and then tilted his head on the side slightly glancing up at Harry, who shrugged in response to Yugi's unvoiced question. Yugi nodded and slid down from his seat between Harry and Yami. Hermione gave Harry a strange look.

"What?" Harry asked a little offended that she didn't think that he would understand what Yugi meant. He had been taking care of the usually silent boy for almost a year now. She shook her head and pulled out a sheaf of parchment and began to write rapidly. Harry had a horrible feeling about what she was writing about, but he put it aside, there was no way that he could stop Hermione from thinking. Yugi was singing softly to Yami who had bent down to listen and was looking a little less than pleased.

Yugi reached up and touched the Shade on the nose with one finger. Yami huffed and leant back into his seat. His eyes met Harry's and glared a warning. Harry picked Yugi up before he could think about it. Yugi rolled his eyes and shook his head. Harry was almost certain that he heard him mutter, 'Shades.'

Harry and Neville made their way down the corridor trying as they passed to get a good look into Malfoy's compartment, but it was no good the window had been covered with something. Harry sighed and followed Neville to Slughorn's compartment.

Their newest professor was as large as he had been the night Harry had met him.

Harry and Neville hadn't been the only ones invited. there were two Slytherins, a seventh year Gryffindor and a Ravenclaw that Harry didn't know and to his surprise, Ginny. Yugi smiled and waved at her and she waved back. Slughorn turned to the three of them and Yugi squeaked. "Harry my boy and Mr. Longbottom, welcome, come in come in."

Slughorn's eyes turned down to Yugi and he examined the startled elf intently. Suddenly Harry remembered what had happened last time Yugi had been startled and glanced over his shoulder to see if there was a snarly shadow lurking somewhere nearby. Yami however was nowhere to be seen.

"You must be Yugi. Oh yes there have been rumours about you my dear boy, an elf how unusual!' He seemed overjoyed at the thought of meeting Yugi, so the elf gave him a tentative smile. "That's it my boy, sit everyone please I have brought my own lunch."

Harry squashed himself between a grinning Ginny and a confused looking Neville. Yugi twisted around in Harry's lap so that he could face the table. He was watching everyone with bright curious eyes, though he seemed to be trying to avoid looking too hard at Slughorn.

Harry had been right in his guess as to what this party was about. Everyone here had connections to someone famous, except Ginny who apparently had jinxed someone in the hallways with her infamous Bat-bogey jinx and Slughorn had been impressed.

After Slughorn had grilled everyone, and one of the Slytherin's had been discarded he turned to Harry. "Now Harry my boy where do we start?" He rubbed his hands together eagerly, Harry suppressed a shiver. He didn't really like being considered a show piece.

"The Boy-Who-Lived of course, and rumoured to be the Chosen One, undoubtable magical skills and caring for an elf." Slughorn turned his gaze to Yugi, who met it a little warily. "The stories you could tell, eh." Yugi's face didn't change, though his eyes shifted slightly as he realised that Slughorn was inviting him to speak. Harry once again, though very unwillingly took over. "He won't talk professor, he only talks to me. Apparently it's an elf thing."

Slughorn's face fell momentarily. "Well no matter, you can speak for yourself. Of course the biggest mystery being what happened at the Ministry..." He paused dramatically and once again Harry realised that he was meant to speak. "Um well, nothing much." He could see on everyone faces that they weren't satisfied. Harry knew that he would have to come up with a reason for being there. He would have to ask Hermione for some ideas.

Slughorn covered the awkward silence a moment too late. "Though I don't hold to listening to rumours, one of my friends in the Department of Mysteries said that there had been a Shade there. The spells had even been removed, very expertly."

Harry, Ginny, Neville and even Yugi went very still at that, though the other three students scoffed softly. Hermione had, true to her skill, disabled the anti-Shade spells around the Ministry to allow Yami and another Shade called Bakura into the Ministry to help in the fight. Things had gone slightly better with them there, though the pair of them, particularly Bakura had caused a huge mess and damaged a lot of what had been termed in the Daily Prophet as 'delicate magic's'. Most of the damage had been put down to the Death Eaters.

The four of them exchanged looks. Yami was still a secret from anyone outside the Order, and he had asked, well demanded to remain so. Harry fumbled for an answer. "Well we didn't see anything, but then we haven't had anything to do with Shades." Harry bit off any more babble when Yugi jabbed him in the stomach with his elbow.

Slughorn's face went dark and he lowered his voice dramatically. "You wouldn't want to either my boy. I had a friend, Alexander, he thought that Shades were simply not understood, tried to contact them and make friends. They hardly left anything of the poor fellow." He shook his head sadly, though Harry could see he was privately delighted in the effect of the story as the other three students who had gone deathly pale and Neville and Ginny were exchanging nervous looks. Yugi's fingers tightened in Harry's shirt and he made his unhappy noise again.

Harry thought about that as Slughorn realised that they were approaching Hogwarts and none of them were changed. None of them had encountered what Harry supposed could be termed a 'wild Shade'. Yugi kept a close eye on Yami to ensure that his magic didn't affect too many of them and that he didn't go nuts on them. Harry had only seen Bakura for a short time during which the Shade had been more focused on the Death Eaters to be concerned about them. Though later he had seen that Bakura's elf Ryou kept a similar eye on the white haired Shade. For the second time Harry realised how terrified people were of the living shadows and just how little Harry actually understood of them.

Harry carried Yugi back to their compartment where the others were waiting already changed and silently handed Yugi over to Hermione while he exchanged his muggle clothes for his Hogwarts robe. Yami had disappeared and Harry wondered if they had crossed the anti-Shade spells yet.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Yami's shadows twisted in agony. He had opened a window and left the train when he had sensed the approaching spells. Now he had to fight his way through them, again. He HATED anti-Shade spells. Damn all humans and their mindless-empty-headed-god-forsaken stupidity. He pressed through the layers of spells towards the point where Yugi's light shone. Cursing humans in every way he could think of, Yami finally managed to press through the spells. As soon as he did he shot forwards moving into the forest to be immediately surrounded by darkings.

The hyperactive little shadows dashed around him in delight, Yami pressed on. He would send them after the various humans later, for now he wanted to make sure that Yugi was settled and safe and he had to go surprise Dumbledore. It was time the old wizard knew that Hogwarts Shade was back. Let chaos forever reign.

* * *

_Sorry if this chapter seems a bit choppy, I have reached the usual stall with this story. Too many ideas not enough time._


	6. Snakes and Spies

_Sorry this chapter has taken longer than normal, but I have only just finished writing it. RSI is a real bugger._

Chapter 6: Snakes and Spies

Harry found his seat at the Gryffindor table and Yugi squashed himself between Harry and Ron. Harry gazed around at the familiar faces with a growing sense of dread. The whispering was back in full force.

Last year people had been whispering that he was mad, saying Voldemort was back. Now he was the hero of the day. Standing up for the truth even though everyone doubted him. The whispering still bugged him. The people around him didn't know, they didn't understand that he had to kill Voldemort, it had to be him. He had been hoping that perhaps Yami would be able to, not any longer. It was Harry or it was no one. Yugi's fingers tightened around his wrist and Harry smiled down at him, Yugi understood.

Professor McGonagall walked to the centre of the dais followed by the horde of tiny first years. Harry could have sworn that some of them were almost as small at Yugi. As the Hat finished its song and the sorting begun Harry looked around and caught sight of Yami settled in the back corner near the door. Harry smiled and winked and received a red-eyed wink in return before the Shade disappeared out the slightly ajar door.

The tables filled to groaning point with food after the last student had seated themselves and the hall filled with the sounds that usually accompanied dinner at Hogwarts. Harry relaxed, he was home now.

After everyone had stuffed themselves they settled down to sleepily await Professor Dumbledore's usual speech. The muttering fell quiet as the Headmaster got to his feet. Harry's mind was pleasantly numb, he already knew what the speech was going to hold, Slughorn as the new Defence against the Dark Arts teacher. Things were going to be back to normal soon enough.

"Welcome back to all our veterans and welcome to our new comers. I would like to introduce our newest teacher, Professor Slughorn who has agreed to return to his old post as Potion's Master."

Harry sat bolt upright as noise filled the Great Hall. His mind was working at a million miles an hour and Yugi shifted next to him. Dumbledore waited until the din quieted before he continued. "And Professor Snape will be taking Defence against the Dark Arts."

"No!" Harry shouted, not caring who turned to look. Yugi grabbed his hand and with surprising strength held him still. Hermione looked interested and Ron looked as furious as Harry felt. Snape lifted a hand and waved it lazily at the cheering Slytherins.

Harry dropped back into his seat and Yugi wriggled closer so that Harry was forced to wrap an arm around the elf. Harry glared up at his most hated teacher hoping that his fury would be enough to incinerate the man on the spot.

Dumbledore however simply continued, informing them of the usual restrictions and a new ban on all of Fred and George's products before dismissing them.

Harry slammed to his feet, scooped Yugi up and carried the silent elf up to the common room with Hermione and Ron close on his heels.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Yami left the Great Hall and wandered the hallways. Re-familiarising himself with the various passageways and hidden doors. Several darkings had already attached themselves to him, preferring his shadowy powers to the mishmash of magic's that made up the castles defensive spells.

When he began to sense movement in the hallways and started passing various children he turned and headed for Dumbledore's office.

With a twist of the spells closing the statue over the doorway, something he had practiced last year to great effect, Yami stepped into the Headmaster's office in human form. His darkings flickered around the room tasting the magic which lay there. This was wonderfully effective as it produced the illusion that he was filling the entire room with his presence.

Dumbledore had apparently only just arrived as he was still standing having just picked up a pile of parchment from the desk. There were also several of the other adults in the room, though thankfully no phoenix. The humans were the adults of the school, the teachers. Yami had met a few of them, those who belonged to the Order of the Phoenix. All the adults turned to look at him, the female, the half-giant and the cold human raised their eyebrows having seen him before at the Burrow, the others stared at him blankly for a moment before their eyes met his and terror flooded through their systems. Yami purred and everyone in the room instinctively grabbed for their wands.

Yami looked at Dumbledore. "'I take it you have decided to inform your teachers that I am here."' He kept his voice soft and less than pleased, Dumbledore had better be careful about telling people about him without first consulting Yami.

Dumbledore studied him calmly. ", 'I thought it wise, and I will be placing restrictions on you while you are here."'

Yami smirked. 'Place away,' he thought, 'ignoring you won't take much effort'.

Introductions then took place. Yami didn't bother filing away their names in his memory. They were totally unimportant to him.

"Now, if I find that the students here are becoming adversely affected by your presence here I will have you removed." Dumbledore said and was about to go on when Yami interrupted.

"How do you think that you can remove me? I have told you before human magic is remarkably ineffectual against Shades. There is nothing you can do to suppress my magic or to prevent it from affecting the children here. You have agreed to have me here, that satisfies Yugi's requirements. Nothing else you have to say is of any consequence to me. If all you have to do is tell me rules which I have no intention of following then I suggest you save your breath. Do not expect to see me, do not look for me and you will hardly even notice that I am here." Yami dropped his illusion and backed into a darker corner of the room. It would be best if he could determine what, if anything, they planned to do.

"A Shade Albus, how can you allow it?" The newest teacher gasped one hand resting on his large stomach.

"Because he is right I am afraid. The only magic that has ever been discovered to effect Shades are the anti-Shade spells which he can apparently cross with ease. So long as Yugi remains here there is nothing that I can do to prevent him from being here. It is far better that he is with us than against us." Dumbledore told the gathered adults.

The teachers looked none-too-pleased, and the half-giant said uncertainly. "Always though' elves and Shades hated each other."

Dumbledore nodded. "It seems that we were mistaken."

Yami left trying not to laugh. Shades didn't like elves, but elves didn't hate anything, they just didn't trust Shades. This was just another example of humans thinking that they knew everything.

Most of the darkings had followed him out. Two of them had remained behind in Dumbledore's office. Their decision gave Yami an idea. He would be sending the darkings out to spy on the Death Eaters for the Order so he may as well send them out to follow the Order again. Harry had been complaining over the summer that no one ever told him anything. Well Yami would find out everything and pass on the information. It would infuriate the adults when they found out that they couldn't keep anything from Harry and Yami. Even better than this it would unnerve the Order members who were around Hogwarts. It would appear to them that Yami was everywhere at once.

Yami changed direction. He had been heading up to the common room to see Yugi, but the elf would have to wait. Yami was going to set this up now and explaining the concept of following a specific human would take some time to explain to the tiny shadows.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Harry stared at the crimson curtain that surrounded his bed. Yugi was still fast asleep next to him. The teddy bear Harry had given him for Christmas last year was hugged close to him. Harry didn't move. If he did Yugi would wake up and they would have to start the day. He was avoiding that, instead fuming silently at Dumbledore's decision to make Snape their Defence against the Dark Arts teacher.

With his not perfect potions mark Harry had been hoping to get away from Snape, now he would have to put up with him anyway.

Harry growled and rolled out of bed, Yugi's eyes flickered open and the elf sat up to watch him.

Harry stomped around his bed and got dressed while Ron stumbled sleepily from his own tangle of sheets. Yugi snickered quietly as the two of them struggled into their robes, Ron because he was still half asleep, Harry because he was still mentally fuming.

Sometime during the struggle to find the neck hole in his robes and when he did find said hole, Yugi had gotten dressed and was waiting by the door. Harry picked up the elf and rolled his eyes at Ron who was yawning widely, but still managed to grin back at him.

They met Hermione in the common room. She was reading a book already and looked up from the thick volume as they stumbled down the stairs.

Harry glanced around and noticed the smiling faces of the other people in the common room. "Where's grumpy?" He asked. It was odd that Yami hadn't come to see Yugi off for the day, he still seemed determined to prove that Harry couldn't take proper care of Yugi.

Yugi shrugged and his stomach rumbled. Ron grinned. "I'm with Yugi, breakfast before anything else."

Hermione shook her head. "We have to get our timetables anyway, but Yami is probably setting up his spy network." Harry nodded. It would be nice to finally be able to know everything. Yami wouldn't keep anything from them, Shades understood revenge.

Professor McGonagall was handing out timetables as they sat down. She paused at each sixth and seventh year to talk to them about their results. Yugi watched her with interest as he ate his jam soaked toast. She approached their little group, which now included Neville. Hermione was quickly cleared for everything she wanted, not surprisingly and leapt off to start Ancient Runes. Yugi watched her go and waved when she looked back at the door.

Neville had a few problems, but his schedule was eventually cleared. Ron also got cleared for everything and was examining his free filled timetable with glee.

Finally McGonagall turned to Harry she examined his timetable with a nod. "Well Potter everything seems to be fine, though you haven't put down potions, I thought you wished to be an Auror?"

"I did Professor, but you told me that I could only do Potions if I got an Outstanding OWL." Harry replied.

She nodded and tapped the blank parchment with her wand. "So I did, but Professor Snape is not teaching this year and Professor Slughorn will willingly take you with an Exceeds Expectations." She handed him his timetable with a nod and then hesitated. Harry blinked. He had never seen McGonagall uncertain about anything and it surprised him. "One more thing Potter, Professor Dumbledore introduced your...friend to the other teachers last night." Harry couldn't help but grin. That would have gone down well. She gave him a tight smile, apparently thinking the same thing. Yugi giggled. "In any case, he was less than pleased. I would like you to attempt to keep him under control."

Harry shook his head, unintentionally cutting her off, she didn't look angry though so Harry explained. "I can't Professor. He doesn't listen to me any more than he listens to you." Harry glanced down quickly at Yugi who nodded and smiled. "But Yugi will talk to him. Honestly Professor I don't think he will do much, he managed to go all of last year without anyone learning about him."

McGonagall seemed to think about that for a moment. "Very well, and I would appreciate if you asked him to be careful Yugi." The elf smiled up at her and nodded. Their teacher moved to the next group and Ron swivelled around.

Monday turned out to be full of free lessons a far cry from the horrible Monday timetable last year. All they had was DADA and Potions. Harry was holding out an opinion on Potions, and not for the first time he was not looking forward to DADA.

Their first free ambled by. Yami had still not made an appearance, according to Yugi he was still setting up his new spy network. Harry wondered what it involved that it would take all night to set up.

Once Hermione came back up to the common room, they all went down to Defence against the Dark Arts together. As they wandered into the room, which was darker than it had ever been and now bore horrible pictures on the walls, Harry wondered if Snape would let Yugi stay. He had last year, but that didn't mean anything. Harry sat down and Yugi took his usual place on the floor near Harry's feet, he had a piece of parchment and a packet of crayons that Harry had brought him during the summer. Yugi glanced up as Snape strode into the room, black robe billowing. Harry glared at Snape as he began to talk.

"The Dark Arts are many and varied, every changing and eternal. Fighting them is like fighting a many headed monster which each time a neck is severed, sprouts a head even fiercer and cleverer than before. Therefore your defences must be as flexible and inventive as the Dark Arts themselves are."

Snape strode back and forth in front of them as he spoke. Even Yugi had lifted his head to listen.

Harry shivered. Snape talked about the Dark Arts like they were wonderful. A strange chill filled the air and several people shivered, but not one of them looked around as Snape went on to explain that they would be practicing non-verbal spells. Harry, Ron and Hermione knew what it was. They had all experienced that chill repeatedly last year, not as deathly as a dementor, but somehow much more terrifying. Yami was back.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Yami watched as Harry turned his head slightly as he got to his feet pulling out his wand. Ron and Hermione were doing the same thing, glancing around carefully for him. Harry spotted him first. Yami was dawdling near the entrance to the room, several very excited darkings attached to him. Yami called one of them up and set it to following this adult, who was now watching the students try to spell each other without speaking.

Personally Yami didn't understand why this would be so difficult, after all the word didn't matter it was the intention. Apparently he was the only one who knew this because not one of the humans was managing to produce anything that looked even close to magic. Harry muttered to Ron as the two of them took up positions. "Maybe if we treat it like earth magic, we don't need words for that?"

Ron nodded and raised his wand, with his lips pressed tightly together, his jaw clenched he raised his wand and... nothing happened.

Yami chuckled and Yugi rolled his eyes, the elf had stopped his drawing and was watching everyone with interest. Where last year in classes there had been magic flying everywhere, today there was nothing, not a single bit. Yami settled back to watch. Not because he cared, but because it was damn funny all these humans standing around trying and failing to produce any kind of magic. Harry made a stabbing motion with his wand, nothing happened, he glared and the earth magic swelled in response. Yugi grabbed the magic lifting free of the walls, which true to form in the castle were soaked in magic. The earth magic went still and latent again.

Yugi's mind poked his, /Go away, you aren't making this easier/.

Yami twitched his shadows in a shrug and dribbled out of the room. The darkings followed him. He was sending these ones to chase the teacher. The two in Dumbledore's office had stayed with him so that had given him a start.

After he had explained the idea to the darkings he had sent them off in threes to find the Death Eaters and members of the Order. He had showed each trio the energy signatures of the Death Eaters that he had encountered both when he had worked with the non-human and those newcomers he had met at the Ministry last year and the energy signatures of the members of the Order he had met over the summer.

Their instructions were simple, by necessity as darkings weren't the most intelligent things, one of the trio was to stay with the Death Eater they had found the other two were to each find another Death Eater or someone who spent a lot of time with the Death Eaters and stay with them. The same applied for his allies.

Though Yami had met most of the Order of the Phoenix he knew they he hadn't encountered most of the Death Eaters and their allies, but this plan would allow him to find other important people and have them followed. He had even managed to convince two of the younger and more curious darkings to hunt down Voldemort himself and follow him. This morning had been mass darking exodus from Hogwarts and yet there were still over a thousand of them here.

Yami had been impressed, now he was hunting through the castle looking for the other adults.

It took him the rest of the day because some of the adults had moved around from last year. By the time he had sent off the last darking and was left with three who were going to stay with him it was dinner time. According to Yugi who was happily stuffing himself on desert.

Yami smirked and made his way up to the common room. His web was spreading out across the country. With his three the darkings could contact him without having to leave the people they were tailing. Things were turning out very nicely. Yami settled back into his corner of the common room and waited until his humans came up from dinner.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Harry's potions lessons only got better. After the first one where he had won that tiny vial of Liquid Luck, something Yugi had told him he hardly needed, Harry had continued to follow the instructions written in the old potions book. Hermione had been furious and had tried every spell she knew to see if it was magic, even having Yami check it over with both earth magic and his own shadow magic. The Shade had seemed amused, but didn't argue and after blasting the book with a great deal of magic, enough that several teachers had come hunting for the person responsible for the upheaval, he pronounced it magic free.

Harry had felt rather superior and continued to use it. Yugi had decided that since none of the teachers this year kicked him out that he would take Harry's potions lessons as time to spend with Yami. Harry wasn't entirely sure if this was to keep the Shade from sulking or because Slughorn had developed a habit of rubbing his hands together and chuckling whenever he walked near Yugi. It seemed to make the elf very nervous.

Late into the week Harry received a letter from Dumbledore informing him of their first lesson this Saturday.

"Excellent, wonder what he's going to teach you." Ron said wistfully. They were sitting in a nearly empty common room in one of their frees, trying to work. A violet eyed Yami was sprawled on a seat near the window. They had discovered that the members of the DA last year had told others about Yami and his lessons and had proceeded to ask after the 'spirit of Hogwarts' and if more lessons were on. Yami had told Harry to tell them no, but bowing to popular demand he had now taken to sitting in their common room in human form. Despite people asking after him, they still seemed reluctant to approach him, most people watched him from a distance. No one had told the Slytherins or the teachers about his involvement in the DA last year.

Yugi was currently looking out the window watching the world go by. "We will come." Yugi said. Turning his head to look at Yami who shrugged.

Harry blinked. "Okay, I guess Dumbledore won't complain." Though he wondered why Yugi would want to know about the new spells that Dumbledore was hopefully going to teach him.

Yugi smiled and nodded and went back to his staring as the three humans continued to struggle through the ever mounting pile of homework.

* * *

_Boy is that last sentence true of me, eight textbooks and three folders of lecture notes later and I am still going._

_Mmm story stress relief._


	7. Origins

Chapter 7: Origins

Harry made his way excitedly up to Dumbledore's office, Yami and Yugi in tow. The Shade didn't know what was going to happen any more than Harry did, but he seemed interested nonetheless. Ron and Hermione were waiting up for them in the common room to hear all about the lesson.

"'Acid Pops."' Harry told the statue which guarded the entrance to Dumbledore's office.

As Harry and Yugi climbed the stairs Yami flitted ahead of them, leaving that familiar chill and heavy feeling over Harry's bod. Yami met them at the top of the stairs in human form, his red eyes flashing in the dim light. Harry grinned and knocked on the heavy oak door which blocked the way into Dumbledore's office itself.

"Come in Harry." Harry pushed open the door and stepped through, Yugi followed at his heels and peered around in interest. Yami closed the door behind them. Harry looked around, but nothing seemed to have been moved, no space cleared, nothing. The only difference was that for the first time Fawkes was missing from his perch. Harry was a little disappointed at the lack of signs, but intrigued as to what they would be doing.

Yami leant against one of the spindly tables which groaned with his weight, but stayed standing. He looked happy that Fawkes wasn't present. Yugi clambered onto a waiting armchair and smiled at Dumbledore before his eyes dropped to focus intently on the old wizard's hand. Harry took the second armchair and wondered if the elf could do anything to fix the blackened limb. Dumbledore was sitting behind his desk and studying Harry over his half-moon glasses. "I expected Yugi to come, however I did not realise you were interested Yami."

The Shade shrugged. "Yugi thinks that it would be beneficial for me to hear this first hand."

Dumbledore nodded. "Yes perhaps it might. Well shall we begin?" He didn't wait for an answer instead he rose and from a nearby cupboard he took the pensive. Harry watched warily. He hadn't had good experiences with the memory basin; it was a rather startling thing to use. Yugi leant over and watched as Dumbledore added a vial full of the shimmery silver not-gas to the pensive. "Yami I do not know if you will be able to some with us?"

Yami had wandered over and was examining the pensive. He straightened and shook his head. "This is human magic it will not work on me." His eyes flicked to Yugi who nodded. "Yugi can go however and he will show me what happens."

Dumbledore's bushy eyebrows rose, but he motioned Yugi forwards. "This may not be pleasant." He warned Yugi. The elf gave him a stubborn look and leant over the pensive. Harry followed suit and Dumbledore joined them as the three of them plunged face first into the pensive.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Yami watched with interest as the two humans and Yugi stood around the bowl and then their bodies froze. Yami stepped forwards and examined each of them without touching them. Their faces were just touching the silvery surface of the liquid-gas, but their minds were gone. Yami shook his head at the bizarre human magic and walked around the desk to sit in Dumbledore's high backed chair. His three darkings and the two who were following Dumbledore stood guard as Yami closed his eyes and immersed himself in Yugi's mind.

/Hello/ Yugi said cheerfully. The elf liked human magic, apparently it tickled. Through Yugi's keen vision Yami could see that they were walking down a path towards a rotten little human building. Yami knew enough about humans to know that this was low quality homing. He didn't understand why anyone would live there.

They were following a wizard. As they walked Yugi looked around and to Yami's surprise he noticed not a single anti-Shade spell. Yami tilted his head and Yugi automatically mirrored the movement. /Could you ask if that is because of this strange dream or if this was before anti-Shade spells?/

Yugi shook his head determinedly and looked at Dumbledore.

Yami, sensing the reason behind the elf's reluctance, sighed. /He won't bite/. Yugi shook his head again, /Then ask Harry to ask Dumbledore/.

Yugi wriggled uncomfortably, but tugged on Harry's sleeve and was picked up. The elf whispered Yami's question into Harry's ear and Harry put the question to Dumbledore. The old wizard looked at Yugi. "So he can hear us?"

Yugi nodded so Dumbledore answered. "I do not know if the magic would be sensed here, but nonetheless this is before anti-Shade spells came into general use."

Yami considered that. Voldemort was old, he had expected that, whatever the non-human had done to his soul prevented him from dying or aging properly. Both Yami and Yugi shuddered at the implications. They were both immortal, but at least they were supposed to be. Whatever Voldemort had done to himself was simply wrong and Yami suspected that even humans considered it so. Yugi stayed in Harry's arms as the memory human made his way up to the door of the house and knocked nervously.

It was interesting to watch this through Yugi's eyes as the emotions of the humans didn't leak through to him. Yami guessed that this was what humans felt like when they looked at each other, only able to recognise emotion by the looks on their faces.

The door was opened by a horrific looking human, at this point Yami's vision disappeared. He opened his eyes and blinked a couple of times before trying again. Yugi gave a nervous giggle. /Sorry, I closed my eyes./ The little elf mustered up his courage and took a second look, they were now inside.

Yami sighed and looked again. There were three humans in the room, one older male who was in the process of yelling at the memory human they had followed. One younger male, who looked about as crazy as humans could be and finally a female, one of the ugliest female humans he had ever seen, though Yami wasn't much of a judge. She was pressed to a wall watching the males yell. /She looks terrified./ Yugi said sadly.

Yami agreed and wished he had been there, the male's anger would have been nice too. Harry jerked forwards as the older man grabbed the female and dragged her forwards by a chain around her neck. He was shouting and pointing to the golden locket which hung on the chain currently choking her.

Yugi shivered holding tighter to Harry. Yami sent soothing thoughts as he watched with interest. Yugi summarised carefully, trying to focus on Yami rather than on the people around him. /Apparently he is from a very long line of pure wizards, he doesn't think that non-magical humans are worth anything and he doesn't think much of part-bloods./

Yami nodded. Voldemort had had similar ideas. There was a great deal more yelling and then some human magic thrashed around as the memory wizard stopped the two males from beating the female. The memory wizard then fled and Dumbledore followed with Harry hurrying after him, still carrying Yugi.

Dumbledore looked down at Harry and then Yami's vision disappeared once again this time in a swirl of white. He opened his eyes and watched with interest as the two humans and Yugi shook themselves slightly as their minds returned to their bodies.

Harry looked over at his teacher. "What happened?"

Yugi looked worried. He seemed to have forgotten that it was a memory. Yami got to his feet and took the distressed elf out of a distracted Harry's arms. Yugi hugged him as they listened to Dumbledore's explanation. "Ministry officials arrived only fifteen minutes later, Morfin and Marvolo were both arrested and sent to Azkaban, the young woman Merope was left to her own devices." Yami was about to ask, at Yugi's request, what that all been about when Harry interrupted. "Marvolo, Professor you mean that he was...Voldemort's grandfather?"

Dumbledore nodded calmly. "Yes and Merope was his mother." He turned to Yami and looked down at Yugi. "Are you alright?" The elf nodded and Yami voiced the question which was hovering around both of their still mingled minds. "What has this to do with anything?"

Harry had dropped into one of the armchairs and Dumbledore took his own chair behind the desk. "Know your enemy, surely even Shades will not attack anything without first knowing what you are facing."

Yami wasn't so sure about that, but he understood the concept. "You think that if you know about Voldemort's past then you will be able to fight him more effectively."

Dumbledore nodded. "Information about his past may prove invaluable. Well Harry that is all for tonight, I shall let you know when our next meeting will be."

Harry got to his feet without really acknowledging his teacher, he was obviously deep in thought. Yami followed him out still carrying Yugi.

As Yami turned to close the heavy door behind him he noticed Dumbledore sitting back at his desk, holding the ring which had been on the old male humans hand in the vision. Yami frowned, he could just sense something on the ring, a tainting. A tainting like what he had seen on that thing he had destroyed last year, like the darkness which tainted Voldemort's soul. But this was weaker, fainter even than the mark on Harry and it seemed to fade even more as Yami watched. Yami shook his head slightly, he still did not understand what that tainting was and how it related to Harry and Voldemort, but he would find out.

Halfway to the common room Yami reverted to his shadow form and as he did his three darkings started to dash around with excitement. Yami paused to listen to them. Harry and Yugi continued on, used to him changing his mind about returning with them. Yami listened carefully to the darkings reports. He hurried to catch back up with Harry and Yugi. The two of them had reached the common room and Yami managed to slip through the doorway before the portrait closed on him. Hermione and Ron were the only ones left in the room.

"I have my first spy report." Yami said taking human form between one step and the next. The three humans gather close eagerly.

"I have some eyes on the humans in the Order as well so that I can follow what they are up to. Most of them have simply been recruiting others to the Order, talking to people, showing different magic's, nothing of interest. However the Death Eaters have been much more active. Voldemort seems to be less focused on you this year, apparently he has some plan going, but I haven't been able to find out what it is."

Harry interrupted. "I bet it's whatever Malfoy is up to."

Yami glared at him and continued. "Some of the Death Eaters are recruiting, mainly by magical means, the rest of them have been sent to find ways to combat Shade magic."

The three humans looked astonished. "Do you think they will find anything?" Ron asked.

Yugi shook his head. "There is no human magic other than the anti-Shade spells which can affect Shades, and as you have seen even they are limited. He will have to look to other species and there are not many of those which can fight Shade magic either."

Yami didn't bother not to look smug.

"What races can affect Shades?" Ron asked.

Yugi shrugged and after a quick look at Yami replied. "Dragon and elf, some giants. Shades are hard to fight because their magic is so basically powerful."

Harry seemed to be thinking very hard. "Will anyone help him?"

Yugi shrugged again. "Dragon's won't they refuse to get involved in human affairs, most of them can't use their magic actively now anyway. The elves won't and we are the only ones with easy access to earth magic. Giants might though."

Yami chuckled. "He will have to find a giant mage to do any damage and they are few and far between."

Yugi gave him a scolding look. "Yes I know, and Shades have had a lot to do with that." Yugi turned to Harry. "Shades have a tendency to destroy anything that could harm them in any way. I guess it's not really their fault it's the way shadows work, they live for their own survival."

Harry nodded. "Do you think the Order needs to know any of this?" The question was open.

Ron shook his head, Hermione nodded. "I think you should tell them that the Death Eaters are looking for magic powerful enough to fight a Shade, any magic that strong will be concerning to humans as well.'"

Yami nodded and made a mental note to tell Dumbledore when he saw him next.

The humans and Yugi made their way upstairs to the sleeping area. Yami settled himself down in his corner to wait the night out.

* * *

_I will try and keep updates regular, but I am entering the joys of the exam period again so study is kind of taking precedence. _


	8. Just One of Those Days

Chapter 8: Just One of Those Days

Harry, Ron and Hermione made their way down to the Great Hall for breakfast. They were three weeks into sixth year and all of them were starting to feel the pressure. Homework didn't stop pouring in, the Professors expected more and more every lesson. Non-verbal spells were now a necessity in all classes and Harry still hadn't mastered them.

Yugi had spent last night trying to explain the concept of the use of non-verbal spells to Ron and Harry. He hadn't gotten anywhere, something that the tiny elf seemed to find very funny, though he did try not to laugh at them too much. Harry didn't grudge him. Yugi never used words to activate his magic, though Harry had sometimes noticed him using the piping elfin language to enhance the spells. Harry guessed that elves just didn't need spell words for magic. Yami didn't even try to help, Shade magic didn't seem to rely on anything other than their will and Harry had to admit he was a little jealous.

The three of them sank into their seats just as the post owls arrived. Yugi skipped through the doors and in the bright morning sun streaming through the windows Harry could easily see Yami skirt the door and disappear under the Ravenclaw table. Yugi clambered onto the bench seat and looked eagerly at the table. Harry slathered some jam on a piece of toast and handed it to him. Yugi tucked in happily as Hermione opened her Daily Prophet. "Anything?" Ron asked, already stuffing himself.

Harry picked at his bacon until Hermione answered. "No one we know has died, but there have been more dementor attacks."

Harry sighed. "Only to be expected." He stabbed his bacon viciously.

There was a distinctive snort from somewhere under the table. Harry glanced down to see Yami's red eyes hovering near Yugi's knee. "What's that supposed to mean?" Harry asked. Ron looked down and Hermione looked away from her paper.

Yami twitched in his usual shrug. "If you humans didn't put anti-Shade spells on everything, you wouldn't have this problem with the dementors."

"Why not?" Hermione asked quietly, throwing a quick look around to check for eavesdroppers.

"The Shades would keep a lot of them away. We don't mind dementors, after all they are our cousins, but if there are too many of them we will start killing them or at least driving them out of our territory. A few dementors will scare humans nicely, too many and the humans start dying and that is no use to us." Yami's eyes drifted towards Harry as he spoke.

"Fair point." Harry said and paused to allow some giggling Hufflepuffs to walk past. Yugi watched them with an odd expression on his face.

They all had a free that morning so they headed out to the lake to do their work. Taking a seat under one of the large oak trees which grew near the bank, Yami took human form and stretched out next to Harry.

Hermione was focussing on Yami more intently. "Just how scared of Shades are dementors?"

"They are very wary and take a great deal of care when dealing with us. The dementors' only magic is their ability to draw out souls and cause dark emotions. They do not have the same active power that Shades do. Why?" Yami raised a delicate eyebrow and Harry was once again hit with the idea that his eyes sucked in the shadows around them while they sparkled brightly.

Hermione didn't seem to notice, she was thinking. Harry could tell because of the furrow between her eyebrows, they all waited. "Would it be possible for you to ask some of the other Shades to fight the dementors?"

Yami's red eyes glowed making Harry shift uncomfortably. Yami wasn't happy about Hermione's request. "Have you not yet got it into your head that Shades do not get on? If I were to approach one of my brothers they would attack and attempt to kill me before I had a chance to ask them. Even if I did have a chance they would not agree. Shades do not work together or with humans." He glared again. "Besides, there would be nothing in it for them, the anti-Shade spells are still there."

Ron scribbled something out on his parchment. "You and that other Shade worked together at the Ministry last year."

Yami glared at him and slouched backwards. "Yes, but only to protect Yugi. It will take a great deal more than danger to him to cause all of us to work together, particularly those who are not bound to elves."

"And that is the whole Shade population except you two." Yugi added.

Harry looked down at Yugi. The elf looked back at him. "Could you get them to work together?"

"No Harry, I couldn't. Yami would help and Ryou helped me to get Bakura to help us last year, but so long as the anti-Shade spells remain then there is nothing you have to offer the Shades. You should probably drop it." Yugi's eyes were serious and he was frowning slightly, Harry wondered what he was thinking.

The rest of the week rolled by slowly. Harry was nervous about the coming weekend. It was Quidditch trials and his first official act as Gryffindor's Captain. According to the common room gossip, nearly everyone in their house was trying out. Harry spent Thursday and Friday trying not to hyperventilate.

Saturday morning dawned bright and cheerful, perfect flying weather. Yugi was up already and was having a rather involved conversation with Hedwig, who was perched on the window sill. Ron was sitting on the edge of his bed dressed ready for the trials, looking green. Harry sighed. He'd thought that Ron had gotten over his nerves last year. Apparently the thought of having to try out again was wearing on him. Harry pulled his robes over his head and said light-heartedly to his friend. "If you go any greener we might have to move you to Slytherin."

Ron went from green to white. Harry wasn't sure if this was better so he glanced over at Yugi who had finished talking to Hegwig and was looking at Ron with a great deal of sympathy. Yugi glanced around. Neville was just starting to stir, but Dean and Seamus were still dead to the world. So Yugi spoke. "Yami says if you freak out he is going to be humiliated and he will take his revenge out on you."

Harry thought that this was about the worst thing Yugi could possibly have said, however it seemed to have the opposite effect on Ron. Some of the colour returned to his face and he got to his feet. Ron cleared his throat as though he were about to say something, then spun on the spot obviously intending to stalk from the room. However in spinning around he managed to twist his foot in the pyjamas he had thrown on the floor and promptly fell over.

Harry suppressed his laughter and picked a now beet-red Ron off the floor. Yugi picked his way around the room and patted Ron's knee comfortingly. Ron picked him up and the three of them headed down stairs to meet Hermione for breakfast.

As usual Hermione was readying the paper, as once again Ron put forward his habbitual question. "Anyone we know dead?"

Hermione shook her head without answering, still absorbed in whatever she was reading. Harry decided not to interrupt and focused on finishing his breakfast.

By the time they had made their way down to the Quidditch pitch the stands were starting to fill up. Harry stared in amazement and Hermione said, rather haughtily. 'Well what did you expect? Everyone is here to see you.'

Harry just gaped at her as she headed for the stand where a violet eyed Yami already waited with a large gap between him and the nearest human.

This reminded Harry of something. Yugi had been following at his heels since breakfast and had a disapproving look on his face. Yugi didn't mind Quidditch but he didn't like Harry playing it. However being Yugi he refused to say anything or to ask Harry to stop playing, instead he got very quiet and slightly sulky. Harry glanced down at the little elf. "Can you sit with Yami and Hermione for the trials? I'm going to need to pay a lot of attention."

Harry could tell it was a futile request the instant the first few words were out of his mouth. Yugi's jaw was set and he placed one tiny hand on the brush of Harry's Firebolt. Harry sighed and moved into the centre of the field and looked at the huge number of people who were standing ready to try out for the team. Harry took a deep breath and yelled over the noise from the team wannabes and the people in the stand. "Alright, divide into groups of ten and I want you to fly a circuit around the stadium."

As he had done previously Yugi sat on the back of Harry's broom, holding on to Harry's robes to keep steady. Harry rose into the air to watch the applicants try out.

It was almost impossible to believe that so few people could fly, especially considering that they were all given flying lessons in their first year.

Most of the first three groups didn't even make it into the air before they crashed or fell over each other. The fourth group was made up of Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs. Harry nearly yelled himself hoarse telling them to get off the pitch. The fifth group contained Ginny and Katie Bell as well as a few other surprisingly good flyers. The hulking seventh year, McLaggen, Harry had met in Slughorn's compartment on the train was in the sixth group with Ron and Harry had to grudgingly admit that he was fairly decent.

Yugi shifted his weight around and Harry's broom wobbled.

"Right, Chasers are up first." Harry bellowed, wondering if he was going to need to keep yelling like this for all their practices. He hoped not. Harry hovered at hoop height off to the side as the twelve people who were trying out for the three positions as Chaser starting doing some passing and scoring drills. By the end of half an hour Harry was happy with his choices of Ginny, Katie Bell and a new girl called Demelza.

Next up were the Beaters. There were fewer of them trying out, something that Harry was very grateful for after the first three all sent Bludgers his way. Yugi had maintained an shield around them both after the second one missed Harry's ear by a hair's breadth. Harry found himself two Beaters, neither of whom were as good as Fred and George had been, but at least they didn't attempt to brain him during their trials.

Finally the Keepers were up. The watchful crowd had now nearly tripled in size. It seemed like half the school was out watching. As Ron walked over to the edge of the ground Yami appeared nearby and walked over to him. They had a discussion for the duration of the first trial before Yami returned to the stand. Harry hadn't been able to hear what had been said, but Ron had gone from white to red; something Harry took as a good sign. As a result Harry had hardly watched the first Keepers trial, but he hadn't saved a single goal, so Harry was pretty sure that he wasn't going have much of a look in.

McLaggen swaggered his way up to the goal posts and took his position as Harry's new Chasers took turns trying to score against him. Harry watched as he saved four out of the five goals. The fifth one he had given a strange shudder and then ducked down into a spiralling dive which he only just managed to pull out of.

Harry threw a suspicious look at the stands where Hermione and Yami were sitting. The two of them were sitting right next to each other and Harry could have sworn that he saw them exchange a significant look. Yugi made a soft noise in his ear. "They cheated." He sounded affronted.

Harry waved McLaggen off the field and motioned for Ron to get ready. "I know." He said out of the corner of his mouth. "We'll talk to them later."

Yugi made a disapproving noise, but leaned carefully around Harry to watch Ron's performance. Apparently Ron's nerves from that morning were gone because he saved all the goals with apparent ease.

Harry made his way down to the group of waiting Keepers and informed them that Ron was in. Ron looked delighted, McLaggen looked furious. In fact Harry was sure that if Hermione and Yami hadn't come up behind him at that exact moment McLaggen would have clobbered him. As it was he muttered angrily and stormed off.

As soon as everyone was out of ear shot, including Ron who had headed off to change, Harry and Yugi turned on Hermione and Yami. "You cheated. You two spelled McLaggen."

Hermione went pink. Yami tilted his chin up in a perfect look of defiance. "Yes. He would have been a bad choice. We made the decision easier for you."

Yugi rolled his eyes, "Yami it is not your place to make those decisions." The elf's voice was very calm and soft, almost overly patient. Harry tried not to smile, Hermione interceded. "Yami's right. You didn't want McLaggen, he has a horrible temper."

Harry shouldered his broom and led the way to meet Ron. Hermione was right, he hadn't wanted McLaggen on the team, but he wasn't going to admit the fact.

By the time Yami and Hermione had caught up with him, Ron was out of the change rooms and talking at lightning speed about each and every save that he had made. Harry just smiled and allowed him to talk as they wandered down to Hagrid's.

They had seen very little of their large friend since they had come back from holidays. He seemed to be rather upset that they had chosen not to continue on with Care of Magical Creatures.

As they approached Hagrid's hut Yami turned off the path and made his way carefully down the hill into the forest. Apparently a visit to Hagrid wasn't on his list of things to do. Harry strode up to the door and knocked loudly.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Yami slid out of human form and met with the forest darkings. Yami had passed on the Death Eaters mission to Dumbledore that morning. The old wizard had seemed very interested and had admitted that the Death Eaters search could eventually prove to be problematic.

The biggest problem with using darkings as spies was that they weren't really intelligent enough to pick out the important pieces of information that they uncovered. As such Yami received a mass of information on the Death Eaters and the Order of the Phoenix. In some cases more than he really wanted to know. For instance he now knew how all the Death Eaters liked their toast. Not really vital life or death kind of information, but the darkings told him anyway.

Some of the information was slightly more important. Yami had discovered just how desperate Voldemort was to kill Harry. He was seeking ways to combat the connection that their wands had. Several darkings swirled around him ready with more information. Yami settled down to listen as they described a small dark room which held an old human. The human had been tortured for information about wands. Apparently whatever he had told Voldemort had made the non-human very happy.

Yami congratulated the darkings and sent out a swirl of shadow magic for them to feed on while he thought. The darkings were perfect for determining ideas and concepts that humans talked on, but like him, they just didn't have enough interest in the actual content of the conversation to be able to tell him exactly what was said. Not that it really mattered, after all he could pass on to Harry and Dumbledore that the non-human had a wand maker and leave it at that, he assumed that they would know which it was.

Yami was about to ask about the darkings who followed the Order when the bond to Yugi twanged. Yami twitched and mentally prodded the elf. /Hagrid is upset, someone called Aragog is sick./

Yami sent a bemused query and he felt Yugi shrug, /Not sure, but he is sad./

Yami left it at that. He was not good at cheering people up, that was definitely Yugi's department.

The darkings following the Order reported in saying that this was quite fun, lots of different magic flavours. Apparently the Order was still recruiting.

Yami didn't know exactly how the darkings could communicate with each other like this. The Shades had always used it to keep in contact with each other's movements, possible dangers and such. Yami supposed that the original purpose was to call other darkings to places of lots of magic, but it was also very useful for spying.

Yugi sent through a call a few minutes later that they were heading back up to the castle. Yami made his way out of the forest, his normal contingent of three darkings expanded to six.

Yami didn't bother to wind through the halls, instead he made his way directly to the common room, he would pass on his information to Harry. He wondered absently if Harry wanted to know that Voldemort really hated jam on his toast.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Harry stepped into the Entrance Hall feeling happy. Hagrid was talking to them again, even if he was sad about Aragog. Harry couldn't bring himself to be upset about the possible impending death of the enormous spider, though after he had explained who Aragog was to Yugi the elf had seemed a little upset.

"Harry, Miss Granger." A booming voice startled him out of his revere. Yugi squeaked and hid behind Harry's leg. Harry could tell by the look on his face that the tiny elf was looking for Yami hoping to be able to sneak away.

Harry gave Slughorn what he hoped was an easygoing smile and not a grimace and bent to pick Yugi up. Harry gave him a look that told Yugi that if Harry had to put up with this then Yugi did too.

Yugi scowled at him cutely.

"Well Harry, Miss Granger its about time you came to one of my little parties. We are having one next Saturday you must come and of course Yugi will come as well.' He paused conspiratorially. "Perhaps even your Shade." He whispered.

Harry had a sudden vision of Yami in dress robes drinking pumpkin juice talking to all the celebrities and nearly laughed. Yugi had a slightly disbelieving look on his face.

Harry smiled. He couldn't think of any way to get out of it and from the look on Hermione's face, she couldn't either. "Sure Professor, we'll be there and I'll ask Yami."

"Excellent." Slughorn chuckled and walked off. Harry looked at Ron ready to roll his eyes, but Ron looked furious. Harry and Hermione looked after him as he stalked off to the common room. Hermione grimaced. "Oh dear."

Harry grimaced and the three of them followed Ron up to the common room where Yami was waiting with another update from his spies.

* * *

_Reviews anyone? I can see you all reading, but there seems to be a distinct lack of communication. Have I left you all mindblown? __._


	9. Hogsmeade Horrors

_Thank you for my reviews everyone!_

Chapter 9: Hogsmeade Horrors

Yami padded over to Harry. Yugi and his three humans were sitting by the fire working. Yami sunk into one of the spare seats. "Yugi said you wanted to tell me something."

Yugi had been giggling almost uncontrollably when he had mentioned this so Yami was going to assume the elf was either playing a joke on the three of them or more likely Harry had been told to ask and really didn't want to.

From the brilliant red colour all three of the humans went, Yami was willing to bet on the second option.

"Well...er...Yami it's just that..." Harry fumbled with his pen and refused to look at him. Yami allowed a soft growl to escape, though Harry knew that Yami would never hurt him the sound was enough to start Harry into spitting out what he had to say. "It's just that we've been invited to a party with Slughorn and he kind of wanted us to invite you as well." Harry bit his lip and watched Yami warily.

Yami just looked at him. He let the silence hang in the air for a moment while he sent a mental question to Yugi, _/who is Slughorn?/_ Yugi sniggered and sent him a mental picture of the fat human who had been in Dumbledore's office, the one that made Yugi nervous enough to avoid Harry's class with him.

Yami tried not to narrow his eyes. "No." He hoped his tone left no room for argument, especially in Yugi's case. Though Yami did suspect that Yugi hadn't really expected him to turn up.

"Right then, well just thought I'd ask." Harry blathered out looking undeniably nervous. Yami sighed and settled back into the chair. Harry's nervousness was so strong that it was leaking through Yugi's protective spells. It wasn't a great emotion, but it was useable.

Harry shuffled some paper around. "we're heading down to Hogsmeade tomorrow, are you going to come?"

Harry was very obviously changing the subject. Yami shrugged and pulled his fear spells in a little closer. The result was that any human who was sitting more than four feet from him would not experience any of his magic, anyone within this sphere would encounter an increased response though. The reaction was almost instantaneous. Ron and Hermione went pale and shivery. Yugi shot him a look and went to sit on Hermione's lap where his presence could protect her a little better. Yami sighed and suppressed the spells as best he could, some of the colour returned to Ron's face.

Harry tried to focus back on the parchment in front of him, but he didn't seem to be having much luck.

Yami glanced down at the book he was reading, Transfiguration, a subject that Yami found rather strange. The ability to turn one thing into another had little use to him.

Yami stayed on his chair until everyone went up to bed, his humans had gone up long before and Yugi had gone with them.

When he was alone in the room he relaxed back into shadow form and slunk over to the corner, thinking about the party that Harry had been invited to. He didn't think that Harry, Hermione or Yugi had been excited about going. They all seemed a little miserable about the prospect. Maybe it would be worth making an appearance, or at least hovering at the window. He certainly wouldn't be actually appearing there, he was also going to have to make sure that Harry didn't see him.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Harry and Yugi stared out into the snow. They had been cleared by Filtch and his Sensory Scopes and now Harry was wondering if it would be worth going all the way to the village in this weather. As Hermione and Ron joined them Harry caught a dark flicker out in the white snow fall. Yami had decided to join them.

Harry looked down at Yugi. The elf was bundled into every piece of wool that Hermione had ever knitted him, he looked a little like a ball of wool with feet, but at least he would be warm.

Harry turned up his collar and stepped out into the blizzard, he immediately sunk almost to his knees while Yugi stepped lightly across the snow. Harry tried to wriggle his toes, but they were numb already. Hermione pulled out her wand and flicked it. Immediately the wind began to whistle as it whipped over her shield charm. Yugi glanced up and grinned at her. "That's better." He laughed as Yami joined them behind the shield. Harry found himself wondering what a breeze felt like when you weren't totally solid.

By the time they made it to Hogsmeade the wind had upped the stakes a bit, though it wasn't snowing quite so hard. The three humans and Yugi were practically blown into Honeydukes. Harry shook himself, Yami hadn't followed them in thankfully because the shop was packed with people. Harry could only imagine the effect of one Shade in a room that full of cranky people.

Yugi had disappeared into the crowd. Not that this bothered Harry, the little elf always made for the same spot; the Sugar Quills.

Harry stood on his toes and began to elbowed his way through the crowd, he collected his chocolate and some liquorice wands and by the time he had fought his way through to the counter, Yugi had met up with him. Hermione was walking next to him, trying valiantly to stop people from stepping on him, she was also holding the biggest box of Sugar Quills Harry had ever seen.

"Hermione you can't buy him all of those, he'll be hyperactive for weeks." Harry gaped feeling more like a dad than he ever had.

Yugi made a dissatisfied noise and turned those impossible to resist eyes on Hermione. Harry had the sense to look away before he was hooked, Hermione missed her chance. "We'll ration them." She said with determination and paid for the box. Harry rolled his eyes, yeah that was so likely to happen.

By the time they had fought their way back to the door where Ron waited with Yami; Yugi was already eating the first Quill.

Yami looked at Harry. Harry wasn't sure how he knew, but he suspected the sudden shiver down his spine might have something to do with it. Harry rolled his eyes at the Shade and thought about handing the Quills over to Yami for rationing. He gave up the idea as useless when he saw the death grip Yugi had on the Quills. Nothing short of dismemberment was going to get that box off Yugi.

They all stood for a moment bracing themselves to step back out into the wind. Then they stood for a few more moments, until the door snapped open and nearly knocked Hermione out. As three Hufflepuff girls staggered into the warmth of the shop Harry pushed his way out.

Hermione pulled out her wand again and the shield reappeared. "Let's go to the Three Broomsticks it'll be warm in there." She yelled at them.

This was met with a general consensus and the five of them slogged their way over the street. Yami met them there, apparently able to move a little faster than them. His eyes were dimmed back to violet and he wore his black robes and for a little authenticity, his red and gold scarf.

They all shook snow off of themselves as they stepped into the blissful warmth of the Three Broomsticks. The tavern was relatively full of students eager to get out of the freezing snow.

None-the-less they managed to find a table to accommodate them all. Harry bought them all Butterbeer including one for Yami, though he knew that the Shade wouldn't drink it, and a pumpkin juice for Yugi. Harry settled down and groaned as his feet started to defrost and sent pins and needles up his legs. Ron was wincing as he rubbed his hands together while Hermione was pointing her wand at her own feet and Harry felt a whoosh of warm air from it.

Their drinks arrived and Harry took a sip and glanced over at Ron. His friend had been sulking ever since they had talked to Slughorn and he hadn't been invited to the party. Hermione tried once or twice to start up conversation, but Ron just grunted and went silent.

Yugi and Yami were having a soft conversation in elfish. Harry listened in, trying to guess what they were saying. Once everyone had finished their drinks, Ron drunk Yami's, Harry just suggested that they head back to the castle. The day had been less than fun, with Ron in such a bad mood it was difficult to stay cheerful.

Yami stayed in human form as they started back for the school. With Hermione's shield back up Harry decided to ask Yami. "Why are you staying a human?"

The Shade glanced over then he stepped close and blew loudly in Harry's ear. It startled Harry so much that he staggered sideways and almost tripped over Yugi. "Sorry." He apologised to the elf who just grinned at him before Harry turned back to Yami, who was also grinning. "What was that for?" Harry demanded.

"Was that nice?" Yami asked calmly.

"No!" Harry gaped at him in confusion.

Yami turned his attention back to where he was walking. "Exactly."

Harry blinked at Hermione who looked confused, Ron was laughing. "Well thanks." Harry deadpanned. Yugi snickered, and then he turned his head. "Harry who is that?" He pointed. Harry looked up to see Katie Bell and one of her friends arguing.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Yami tilted his head to try and catch what the two girls were talking about, but the howling wind past the shield of human magic dragged the words away from him. He could almost sense something and from the look on Yugi's face he could sense it as well. It was a curse, but it was subtle and hidden on the girl.

"That's Katie Bell." Harry was answering Yugi's question, "Why?"

"There's something." Then a stronger curse flared into existence. Yami stopped and watched as the cursed girl suddenly rose effortlessly into the air and began to scream in agony. Yami shivered with the sudden flow of energy. A packet wrapped in brown paper had fallen to the snow. His three humans were running forwards as the girl dropped back to earth and went still. "Oh my." Hermione was crying.

Yami picked up the pace and scooped a stunned Yugi off the snow. He hurried up to the unconscious girl and set Yugi at her side as instructed. The elf immediately took one of her hands in both of his and his magic began to glow around him. Harry was bending over the package on the ground, while the other girl was sobbing loudly into Hermione's shoulder. "Do not touch it." Yami told Harry as he approached.

"I just want to see what it is." Harry very carefully pulled back the paper to reveal a necklace. Yami knelt next to Harry.

Ron came up behind them both, "I'm going to get help." Harry just nodded as Ron ran off in the direction of the castle. "I've seen this necklace before, it was in Borgin and Burke's. Malfoy could have bought it." Harry looked up at Yami as though looking for support.

Yami shrugged and poked the necklace with his magic. It was a significant human curse. But he would need to look closer to determine what its purpose was. Yami got to his feet and looked over at Yugi, _/How is it going?/_

Yugi did nothing more than shift as he replied_, /I cannot do much now that the curse is active, I do not know enough to counter it./_ Yami moved over, picked Yugi up and hugged him. He sounded like he was about to cry. There was a loud thumping and the half-giant teacher ran around the corner followed by a puffing Ron.

The huge human took one look at the unconscious girl before he scooped her up and ran off for the castle. Hermione pulled on the other girl's hand and they all followed after him. Harry had picked up the necklace and wrapped it in his scarf, careful not to touch it. Yami carried Yugi the rest of the way, the elf urging him faster all the time, wanting to know if she would be alright.

They were met at the Entrance Hall of the castle by the stern adult female. She took one look at the unconscious girl in the giant's arms and sent him off to the hospital wing. As the non-magical human hurried over Yami turned his eyes away and pretended to be focusing on Yugi. "What do you have Potter?" She demanded.

Harry showed her the necklace and she shook her head. "Filtch take this to Professor Snape, the rest of you come with me."

Yami made a snap decision. He wanted a closer look at that necklace. "Harry." He murmured so that the human turned to look at him. Yami held Yugi out to him. Harry took the elf. "What are you doing?"

"Never mind." Yami said and as soon as everyone was out of sight he released his spell and flowed away after the non-magical human.

He headed for the dungeon where the snarly human, Snape was."'Professor McGonagall wants you to have this, a student touched it." The non-magical human dropped the carefully wrapped necklace into the other humans waiting hands and then left. Yami drew back into human form and stepped out of the shadows. Snape started as Yami stepped up to where he had set the necklace. "If I find that you are behind this..." His voice was definitely threatening.

Yami rolled his eyes. "If I intended harm on these children then I would do it with my own magic, not a human curse."

Snape lifted an eyebrow. "Do you know what curse it is?" He asked curiously.

"No, but Yugi wishes to know so that he can try and help. I said that I would find out." Just a little white lie.

Snape gave him an inscrutable look before he turned his wand on the necklace. Yami let the human work. He sent out tendrils of his own magic trying to determine the curse and how it could be dealt with. From what he could see the curse was designed to kill, simple as that. Since the girl was not dead, Yami could only assume she had only brushed the necklace and so the curse had not been able to fully activate.

When Snape was finished he had apparently come to the same conclusion. He led the way up to the Hospital Wing. "I suggest that she is moved to St Mungo's immediately." Snape told the female there, he then waved his wand over the girl and put a spell on her. To Yami's eyes the spell reduced the remains of the curse on her, but didn't counter them entirely.

After Snape had left and the other adult had bustled off Yami approached the bed, he had an idea. He spread his magic under the curse.

The thing about human magic was that it took a long time for the magic to settle into whatever the spell was cast on. In this case the girl. Though the curse was very well set on the necklace, it was still hovering on the surface of its victim. Yami's magic, dark and subtle, could slide underneath it, as he did Yugi called out to him. Yami paused what he was doing to answer, hoping that the adults wouldn't return any time soon. /_Yami did you find out what it is, can I help?/_

/_I do not think so, but I may be able to stop the curse from settling./_

_/You're volunteering?/ _Not really surprising that Yugi was startled at Yami's offer.

Yami gave a mental shrug, /_It may come in handy if Harry is ever cursed./ _Yami was still looking for a way to remove the tainting in Harry without killing the human.

_/Do it./ _It wasn't a demand, it was a request, still with Yugi they were almost the same thing. So Yami continued. He managed to put a weak Shade-magic shield underneath the curse. It would make the curse a lot easier to remove and it would dissipate as soon as the curse did. Well that was the idea.

He slunk away after that, the magic had been remarkably small and had not needed a lot of energy, however it had been fiddly and now he was a little cranky. Deciding not to subject his humans to his mood Yami made his way down to the forest where the darkings didn't care about his mood at all.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Harry stared at himself in the mirror. What he wouldn't give to be able to get out of going to this party. However, unlike Yami who was quite willing to simply tell someone to sod off if he didn't want to do something, Harry had agreed and he wasn't good at breaking his promises.

Yugi was sitting on the bed dressed in his best clothes, which was to say his cleanest clothes, and looked just as happy as Harry did. Ron had disappeared. No matter how Harry explained that he and Hermione really didn't want to go, Ron was undeniably angry that he was the only one not to be invited.

Yugi had volunteered to stay in the common room with Ron, Harry had refused to allow him to. There was no way he was going to this party without Yugi. Harry turned to the elf. "Right remember as soon as Slughorn starts getting too pushy, or we've been there for about an hour, act sleepy."

"It's not very honest." Yugi said doubtfully.

Harry sighed. Sometimes Yugi could be too nice for his own good. "Come on, it's our only escape route."

Yugi frowned slightly, but he nodded. "Alright, I just hope Yami doesn't decide to turn up."

Harry turned his head to look at Yugi so fast he nearly gave himself whiplash. "You don't think he would do you?"

Yugi shrugged, "I don't know."

Harry shuddered at the thought of other students becoming aware of the Shade in their midst and picked Yugi up. They met Hermione down in the common room. She was dressed up in muggle clothes, as Harry was. This was after all supposed to be a casual get together. Ron was nowhere to be seen and Hermione seemed to be a little upset with this.

Also missing in action was Yami, though they had been seeing less and less of the Shade. He only appeared when he had something to report from his spies.

As Hermione led them down to Slughorn's office, where all the parties were held, Harry considered what they had leant so far from Yami. The Death Eaters had begun searching for a giant mage and they were on the trail of one. The Order were attempting to track down the same giant mage, to try to convert him to their cause. Neither party was having much luck. Giant mages were apparently notoriously tricky to find. They had to be, to hide from both humans and more dangerously Shades, who were intent on exterminating them.

Both parties were also recruiting. In the case of the Death Eaters this was supposed to include death and the Imperious curse. However thanks to Yami's spy network the Order had managed to find and hide some of the witches and wizards who were being hunted before the Death Eaters got to them. Despite all of this Yami seemed to be less than satisfied with what he had found. Harry knew that he wanted something that could be used against Voldemort.

"Well here we are." Hermione said and Yugi wriggled uncomfortably. They were standing outside of Slughorn's office, none of them wanted to be the ones to knock on the door. "We could just leave." Hermione suggested looking at them both.

Typically at that moment the door opened and Slughorn peered out. "Welcome welcome Harry, Miss Granger and Yugi of course." Slughorn boomed and ushered them in. The large room was full of people, some students that Harry recognised others were obviously some of Slughorn's 'contacts'.

Through the crowd House Elves wove with large silver trays of food. Yugi wriggled free of Harry's grip and disappeared under one of the trays, apparently Yugi had found someone to talk to.

"Harry you really should meet..." This became the mantra of the evening. Slughorn seemed to have taken it upon himself to introduce, or show off, Harry to every well to do person in the room. Harry found himself shaking hands with Aurors, singers and every other kind of influential wizard and witch. Apparently Slughorn knew everyone, in between being literally shoved in people's way Harry tried to relocated Yugi. However the elf seemed to have disappeared.

Finally Harry managed to find Hermione and drag her into a curtained alcove. She seemed relieved. "Have you seen Yugi?" Harry asked, keeping a careful eye on the curtain.

Hermione shook her head. "I haven't but Harry I think Yami may be here."

Harry stared at her blankly for a moment, "Why?" He asked, feeling a little gobsmacked.

She gave a noncommittal shrug. "I was trying to get away from McLaggan when I bumped into Zabini and one of the Holyhead Harpies, they were arguing and they both got really angry at me. I asked what was wrong and they just calmed down all at once. They seemed really confused, but said that they just felt furious."

Harry pulled the curtains apart and peered through the crowd. He could always see Yami now, the Shade could no longer hide in any kind of shadow from him. The only way he could now disappear was to leave the room.

But Harry couldn't see him, neither his human form nor a trace of his shadows. Harry did however spot Yugi. The elf was still standing under a tray talking to one of the Hogwarts elves. He was halfway across the room, so Harry was able to see under the tray. He grabbed Hermione's hand. "This way."

Harry kept his eye on the tray as he elbowed his way through the crowd.

Once he had found the tray he bent quickly and scooped Yugi out from under it. The elf made a faint protest, but didn't fight. "Is Yami here?" Harry hissed in Yugi's ear. Yugi looked alarmed and glanced around frantically. After a few tense moments Yugi shook his head, though he looked like he was doing some furious thinking. "Anyway." Harry said, "I thought we were going to make a run for it."

Yugi glanced down at the House Elf with his tray, who immediately scurried off. Yugi sighed. "We can go now." He murmured.

At that moment Slughorn reappeared. "Excellent, now Harry I think you should meet..."

Harry cut him off quickly as Yugi went appropriately limp in his arms, yawning widely. "Sorry Professor, but I think I need to take Yugi to bed." Harry felt his face heat up, he really hoped that Slughorn didn't pick up on his lie.

His teacher, however, looked appropriately astonished. "Of course, my boy, I had forgotten how late it was. Well you must come to another one of my little parties."

"Sure Professor, goodnight." Harry backed out of the door followed closely by Hermione.

Yugi immediately perked up. "Let me down Harry, I need to go talk to Yami."

Harry set the elf on his feet. "He was there." Harry said.

Yugi shrugged. "I wasn't paying attention, but he may have wandered by or come intentionally. I'll see you later." Yugi took the left turn and Harry and Hermione took the right, they walked in silence for a few moments before Hermione spoke. "Do you think Ron will get over this thing he has about us going to Slughorn's parties any time soon?"

Harry, who had seen the looks Ron had been giving him and Yugi as they were getting ready, doubted it, but he guessed that wasn't what Hermione wanted to hear. "I'm sure he will." Harry crossed his fingers and hoped for the best.

* * *

_I cannot wait until my exams are over, hooray for my first holiday in three years!_


	10. Tom Riddle

Chapter 10: Tom Riddle

Yami made his way through the castle; it was getting dark outside, so inside was currently lit with torches. Yami loved this time of night. With the torches lit Harry was the only human in the castle who could spot him. He rolled in the shadows his darkings playing around him.

/Yami it is nice to see you enjoying yourself, but could you come up here, we are about to go into another memory./ Yugi's mind interrupted his play. Yami could never refuse the elf anything and he did sound a little worried. Yami reversed and exited the corridor through a window. He made his way up the nearest wall and entered Dumbledore's office via the large double window.

The first thing he saw was that the phoenix was back. Yami's reaction was once again automatic. He sent a powerful burst of magic at the bird. The flame-bird responded by sending an ear-rending shriek at him. Their magic's collided with an appropriately large explosion. The bird took to the air trying to give itself an advantage. Yami slid around the room and then launched himself at the airborne creature. He almost had his enemy within his grasp when a burst of elfin magic dragged him backwards.

Yami struggled against Yugi's binding spell. The phoenix gave another cry, but this time Yami could only defend himself. Yugi's spell gave an extra insistent tug and Yami was pulled backwards and forced to wrap his shadows around the little elf. Yugi left him no room to move, Yami could go no further than a foot from him.

Yami resisted the urge to curse out-loud and restrained himself to thinking loudly. Dumbledore murmured something to the phoenix and the bird landed on his perch. Yami glared at it though Yugi's spell prevented him from taking human form.

"I can foresee a problem here. Perhaps it would be best if Fawkes was not here during these lessons." Dumbledore chuckled.

Yami growled and Yugi fisted his hand in Yami's shadows cutting the sound off. He nodded to Dumbledore and Harry got up from where Yami's first wave of magic had knocked him over.

Dumbledore approached his ruffled phoenix and spoke softly to it. Yami didn't pay attention as Yugi was currently reprimanding him. He was forced to pay attention, Yami was just glad that he was the only one who could hear. It really wasn't fair that something so young could make someone as old as he was feel like a disobedient child. /Now do not do it again, leave Fawkes alone./ When Yami took more than a moment to reply Yugi got cross. /Yami!/

/Alright, I'll leave it alone. They are staring./ Yugi turned his attention to Harry and Dumbledore who were indeed staring at him and went bright red and hid his face in Yami's shadows. The phoenix took to the air and disappeared in a flash of flame. Since Yugi was still using him as a hiding place Yami twisted and pulled the elf over to a chair. "Well, perhaps we shall continue. Yugi will you be coming with us?" Dumbledore asked gently.

Yugi peered through Yami before nodding. Yami relaxed as Yugi released the binding spell.

As the three of them approached the basin of memories Yami took human form and once again lounged into Dumbledore's high backed and exceptionally comfortable chair.

Yugi climbed onto a chair which Harry had pulled over to the memory basin for him to stand on. The three of them leant over the basin and their minds sunk into the memories.

Yami gave them a moment before he closed his eyes and melded his mind with Yugi's. The scene was different to the first they had entered. This time they were in one of the human cities. Yugi was gazing around in interest. His only experience with human civilisation was the short journey to Harry's home that summer. As he was only using Yugi's eyes Yami was forced to watch the flow of people around them. Almost all of them were giving someone ahead of them startled looks.

/Who are we following?/ Yami asked. Yugi turned his eyes forwards, they were following another Dumbledore.

"Where are we going Professor?" Harry asked their Dumbledore.

"You will see soon Harry." The old man replied.

Yugi ran to catch up. He had been watching a group of humans talking in the street.

They were headed for an old building, partly set apart from the others around it. The memory Dumbledore strode up the steps and knocked on the door. Yugi's attention was thankfully back on the immediate area so Yami was easily able to see the girl who opened the door. She took one rather startled look at the memory Dumbledore and then turned to yell over her shoulder.

Yami peered at the memory Dumbledore he didn't see anything particularly odd about him, he was slightly younger than the Dumbledore standing with them and he wasn't wearing robes. Surely he looked like the non-magical humans.

Apparently not because when an older female human came to the door she did the exact same double take. "Well, Mr Dumbledore, I've been expecting you of course. Please come in." She stepped back a little warily and they all crowded into the hall. The three incorporeal beings tried hard not to step through people. Yami didn't know why, when you were the partially non-existent one it didn't feel at all strange. /Only when you've been like that all your life, to everyone else it is very strange./ Yugi told him.

Yami twitched as the female stepped through a doorway and the memory Dumbledore followed her. She sat behind a desk and watched the memory Dumbledore. "So you are here about Tom Riddle. Well I don't mind telling you he is a strange boy. The other children are quite frightened of him."

"He is a bully?" Dumbledore asked.

"Well I think he must be, but I can never catch him doing anything." She looked uncertain. "But he definitely has a place in your school?"

"Yes, now may I see him?" The two of them got to their feet. As they made their way upstairs to a small room. Harry almost tripped up the stairs in excitement.

Yami didn't really understand why he was so excited, who on earth was Tom Riddle?

/He must be important, or Dumbledore wouldn't be showing us this./ Yugi thought and wriggled into the room standing almost on Harry's feet in an effort to not stand in the middle of a small table in the corner of the room.

"Who are you?" There was a small child sitting on the bed. If Yami had been in his own body all his illusionary hairs would be standing on end. He didn't need his own magic to recognise the non-human. His soul was intact, but the darkness was already starting to grow. Yugi shivered, but kept his eyes open so they could both watch.

The memory Dumbledore went through a speech that Yami was sure he had done many times over, concerning Hogwarts and the fact that the boy was in fact a wizard and not a magicless human. The boy on the bed didn't look impressed. In fact he seemed to have expected something like this to have happened. Slowly the look on his face changed to one that Yami often saw on Shade's human faces, a look that suggested he was planning a great deal of damage to as many people as he could.

This was the Voldemort that Yami had been willing to follow. One who sought pain and terror for himself and no other.

Yugi shivered and Yami stopped those thoughts, it upset the elf for him to be thinking of what he had done with Voldemort. Usually Yami didn't allow Yugi access to those memories, but with their minds so closely entwined Yami couldn't hide anything from Yugi.

Harry was watching the memory Dumbledore and the child-Voldemort talk, he looked confused and pained. Finally the memory Dumbledore rose. "Well I wish you luck and I will see you when you arrive at Hogwarts." He bowed slightly, but the boy wasn't watching. He was reading the piece of paper that Dumbledore had handed him. Dumbledore didn't seem at all bothered. Instead he smiled slightly and stepped from the room, closing the door behind him.

"Well that will be all for now Harry." The real Dumbledore said and he vanished. Yami pulled back into his own mind and watched as the three of them shook themselves again and stepped away from the basin. Yami grudgingly got to his feet and allowed Dumbledore to retake his seat.

Yugi climbed onto one of the armchairs and Harry took the other. Yami leant against one of the spindly desks again.

"So that was Voldemort as a child?" Yami said.

"Yes indeed, he was a strange child. As you noticed he did not have trouble accepting that he was a wizard, that he was different." Dumbledore nodded and glanced at Harry. "I hope you noticed Harry that he collected trinkets of those horrific deeds which he performed. This will become important later on."

Harry looked up and nodded. "Professor, why are you showing us this. I mean I guess it is important to know about Voldemort, but there has to be something more. You said that this would show me how to kill him." Harry paused and his eyes flickered around the room. Yami glanced around as well. There was nothing new there. When Harry spoke again it was slowly, as though he was still thinking over his words as they came from his mouth. "You had the ring last time, Marvolo's ring. Do you have something else this time?"

Dumbledore beamed at him and Yugi glanced at Yami looking confused. "Excellent Harry you are starting to catch on, unfortunately I do not have anything else. Next time perhaps."

Harry got to his feet and Yugi slid from his chair giving Dumbledore a wide smile. Yami frowned slightly until he realised that the old wizard had dismissed them. He pushed away from the desk and padded over to the door. "Yami would you stay a moment please?" Dumbledore called.

Yami paused before he backed up and took Yugi's recently vacated armchair. Harry had hovered at the door, but was finally pulled away by Yugi. Dumbledore remained silent until the door had finished closing. Yami thought this was rather foolish. However it at least proved that he wasn't aware that Yami told Harry and Yugi everything anyway.

"Have you discovered anything more concerning the Death Eaters?" Dumbledore asked quietly.

Yami considered, he had, though neither he nor his humans had been able to make sense of it. The Death Eaters had found the giant mage, but his magic was exceptionally strong, so strong in fact that it was confusing Death Eaters and darkings. The flighty shadows didn't know what they were doing and so whenever they contacted him they simply babbled nonsense at him. Yami knew that strong magic confused darkings, but he had never seen anything other than Shade and earth magic confused the darkings that badly.

Dumbledore took his silence as a need for a prompt. "Even something about Olivander."

Yami looked at him confused, who was Olivander?

"The wand maker." Dumbledore added.

Yami shook his head. "Voldemort has not visited him since that first time. There are always Death Eaters around him, but as I said before I cannot pinpoint locations with these spells, only what is going on. Until someone mentions a location you will have to continue your search." Of course this was a slight variation on the truth. It was the darkings who couldn't tell where they were. They knew that they were south of where they had been before, but they judged distances in days of travel and since darkings never travelled in straight lines or any predictable way it was impossible to use them to judge a distance.

"There is one other thing. The Death Eaters have located the giant mage, however I cannot tell what is going on as his magic is getting in the way. Until I find out more that is all I have to tell you." Yami rose to leave. The Order of the Phoenix had been busy trying to stop the Death Eaters from killing or harming any other wizards or muggles, that was all they had been doing. Yami thought that if they wanted to defeat Voldemort they would need to take a slightly more aggressive standpoint. Of course Yami always thought that they needed to take a more aggressive standpoint.

"Thank you again for your help." Dumbledore said. Yami nodded stiffly so he could tell Yugi that he had been polite and left the room. Waiting until he was outside of the office before he released his physical illusion and made his way down to the forest. He really needed to find out what was going on with this giant mage and unfortunately it looked like the only way he was going to manage that was to go and find him. This was not only to stop a giant mage from possibly threatening Yugi and Harry, but because the mage could also possibly be a threat to his own safety, especially if he could somehow confuse the darkings.

If that was going to be the case Yami had a lot of thinking and planning to do before he left. Hogwarts was safe for Yugi and Harry, but Yami had to make sure that the defences were absolutely foolproof.

* * *

_Yami leaving, surely not!_

_I'm really not sure where that came from, but things are taking a rather unexpected turn. I hate it when that happens._


	11. Travel

_Yes this is a very early update. I am going away for a week or so, so I thought I would update now. Next update will be a few weeks away, don't worry I haven't disappeared._

Chapter 11: Travel

Harry watched Yami. He was supposed to be doing another essay for Snape, but something about the Shade's face earlier that day had made him think. Yami had been distracted for the last week. Harry hadn't even spotted his shadow form more than three times. Even Yugi didn't know what he was up to, though the elf seemed less curious than Harry.

It had all started after that last lesson with Dumbledore. Now for the first time in three days Yami was once again in the common room. He was sprawled in his favourite chair by the window. His face was dark and thoughtful, Harry really thought that he should talk to him, but there was something in the look on Yugi's face, the elf was sitting on the Yami's lap, which made him want to leave whatever it was until the absolute last minute possible. Whatever the problem it had upset both of them and Harry really didn't need anything else to worry about at the moment.

He tried to focus on the parchment and what he had been writing, but it was very difficult. He had so many things cramming themselves into his head that he didn't even know where to start. After a couple of minutes where the only word he added to his essay was 'Edna' for a reason that totally escaped him, Harry gave up and pulled a spare piece of blank parchment towards him. On the top he wrote the title, '_What's bothering me now.'_

And then continued to write down everything, some of the things kind of startled him.

_Yami is distracted, this is never good, find out what is wrong_

_Yugi is worried, this is worse than a distracted Yami, find out what is wrong!_

_Voldemort is planning my death, not much I can do about it at the moment_

_Ron and Hermione are at odds, try to get them back to being friends_

_Girls are all staring at me, don't freak out_

_The next Quidditch match is coming up and Katie is not back, find a replacement_

_I have too much homework; do some instead of making stupid lists_

Harry looked down at the list. First things first; he looked around the common room and located Dean. Sliding from his chair, receiving a startled look from Hermione he threaded his way around the room and stopped in front of Dean. "Hey Dean. Look it doesn't look like Katie will be back in time for the next Quidditch match and you flew the next best, so do you want to fill in for her?"

Dean's whole face lit up. "Yeah, that'd be great Harry, when's practice?"

"Tomorrow night, see you then." Harry headed back over to their table. After he had sat down he looked down at his list and crossed off point six. He felt better and seeing as point three and five were ongoing and point seven was unlikely to change all he had to do was reconcile Ron and Hermione and talk to Yami. Easy.

Harry grabbed his essay, scribbled out Edna and dove back into it. Yami wouldn't talk to him when the common room was this full, he would have to wait until later and hope that Yugi would be able to locate the Shade if he decided to leave.

Harry had dawdled as much as he could however he wasn't the only one bogged down with work. By midnight there were still a crowd of sixth and seventh years huddled around the tables. Ron had gone up to bed, but Hermione had decided to wait for him and so was now reading through his finished essay.

Finally Harry gave up, it didn't really matter if people saw them talking. After all Harry was known for being the only one not worried by the Spirit of Hogwarts tendency to be a little snappy.

Harry pulled a chair over and Yami turned his attention over to him. Yugi was fast asleep on Yami's lap, so Harry spoke softly. "What's wrong?"

Yami's eyebrow rose ever so slightly. "Nothing." He didn't whisper, but somehow his voice only just carried over to Harry.

"You've been distracted for the last week." Harry said, he realised as soon as he said it that this was going to be pointless. Yami didn't understand the need for humans to stick together, to keep an eye on your friends. Yami was solitary, he watched for himself alone.

"Nothing." Harry recognised the look on Yami's face, if he pressed this Yami was going to leave.

Harry gritted his teeth and backed off. Yugi stirred, typical, Yugi could have made Yami answer. The elf yawned and then glanced at Yami through half closed sleepy eyes. Answering some unspoken request Yami picked him up and handed him to Harry.

Harry sighed and went to pack up. Hermione had already done so, Harry picked up his full bag gave her a tight smile and carried Yugi upstairs.

Yami had once again disappeared overnight so Harry spent the rest of the day trying to think of a way to get Yami to talk to him. He was so engrossed in his thoughts that he nearly forgot that they had Quidditch practice. It wasn't until Ron came up to him dressed in his Quidditch robes that Harry muttered a curse and dashed upstairs to get changed.

By the time he had pelted down to the Quidditch grounds everyone was already in the air and practicing. Harry practically threw himself in the air and joined in.

Harry was kind of startled at how well they were doing. He had left Yugi with Hermione and was hoping that Yami was going to keep up his non-appearance. Everything seemed to combine into a near perfect practice.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Yami wound his way through the halls to find Harry, he had finally made up his mind and was going to go and hunt this giant mage. It had taken him four days to ensure that all the protections on the school were up to standard, his standard, and now he was going to go.

Yugi had informed him that Harry was down practicing Quidditch, Yami had promised to ensure that Harry wasn't hurt so long as Yugi brought Hermione to an empty class room so that he could talk to them all together.

Yami met Ron and Harry halfway down the next corridor, he didn't bother to take human form. Harry's eyes met him the instant he came around the corner and Ron's snapped over to him when he got closer. "I need to speak with you." Yami told them.

Harry's face lit up a little and Yami realised that he was still wondering what Yami had been distracted about for the last week or so. Ron pulled aside a tapestry which covered the entrance to a hidden short cut. Then both the humans went very still.

Inside the small corridor was Ron's sister with her face pressed up against one of the other males.

"What's going on here?" Ron bellowed. Harry looked like someone had hit him on the head.

Yami edged closer as the two pulled apart. Ron's sister was furious and her eyes met her brothers without fear. Yami edged closer again. He was going to need full reserves to pull off his fight with a giant mage.

Ron's sister was yelling at him. The boy she had been with had disappeared, feeling frightened. Harry was standing between them, still shellshocked, preventing them from attacking each other. Yami watched for a few more moments, then he decided to take action. He lunged forwards and picked up Harry, Ron and his sister and headed off to meet Yugi and Hermione.

Ron struggled, so Yami pinned him, Ginny was shaking in horror and Harry was dead still.

Yami set the three of them down in the empty room moments before Yugi and Hermione arrived.

Harry staggered sideways, Ginny collapsed and Ron sat down very quickly. Hermione looked horrified and went immediately to Ron. Yugi just looked at Yami before wandering over to Harry and sitting down next to him. Yami took a seat and waited while they all sorted themselves out. Harry looked up at Yami. "I thought I asked you not to do that again?"

Yami studied him for a moment, unsure if Harry was trying to make a joke. He was almost sure that he wasn't so he replied. "You would have continued arguing for a long time. I do not have any desire to listen to you all yell at each other." Yami paused, "Not that it is not entertaining. More importantly I am leaving Hogwarts.'

The four humans stared at him, and then Harry asked. "Why, is something wrong?"

Yami shrugged. "I have told you that my spy system has discovered a giant mage." He waited for them to nod, "I am going to find him and either convince him to side with your Order of the Phoenix or kill him. I can't use my spies to locate him from here so that the Order can to do it so I am going to have to go and look for him myself."

"How long will you be?" Hermione asked, she actually looked worried. They had become so used to his protective presence that they were actually worried that something was going to go wrong without him there. Yami rolled his eyes. How had they survived without him? "You should not become so used to me, but for now I have improved the protective spells on Hogwarts nothing will be able to get in." Yami was damn confident about that. Of course it would surprise any of the other humans who attempted to enter the castle grounds, it would almost be worth staying just to get the energy when they realised that they couldn't cross their own anti-Shade spells.

Harry looked relieved. "How long will you be gone?" Ron looked away from his sister long enough to look at Yami and look worried, probably about their Quidditch matches.

Yami shook his head, "I don't know. I have no way of knowing how far away the mage is, but I will try to be as quick as I can. Tell Dumbledore not to expect any news, he will have to do some work himself." While the four humans looked astounded Yami dropped from his seat to his knees and Yugi walked up to him. The elf looked very sad. /Please don't stay away for too long, I'll miss you./

Yami hugged him tightly, /I will miss you too, if anything goes wrong call to me./ Yugi nodded, his bright eyes full of tears. Yami got to his feet and tried not to look at him knowing if he did he would never leave.

Finally Yami grabbed Harry by the arm and dragged him to a quiet corner of the room while the other three started arguing. "Harry, it is up to you to keep Yugi safe."

Harry stared at him, but Yami could tell that his mind wasn't on their conversation. "Sure, yeah, whatever." Harry muttered and looked over Yami's shoulder at Ron's sister.

Yami grabbed Harry's chin and forced his face around, standing on his toes so that they were almost nose to nose. "Is this going to be a problem?"

Harry blinked and looked embarrassed. "Is what going to be a problem?"

Yami glared at him, but rocked back on his heels. "You were not happy to see Ginny and the other male kissing." Yami was a little startled when Harry gave a slightly forced laugh.

"I just agree with Ron, she shouldn't be kissing people in the hallway." Harry was lying, but Yami didn't really care.

"Fine, but if anything happens I am holding you responsible."

"Unha." Harry muttered; his attention once again on the other three humans.

Yami grunted and dropped back into shadow form, he didn't understand humans. He slid out of the window and joined the three darkings who were going to guide him to the giant mage.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Harry was sitting on his bed staring at the hangings. Yugi was curled up next to him, but Harry knew that he wasn't asleep. Harry didn't know what to make of the angry fire that he had felt when seeing Ginny kissing Dean. Then to add to it all Yami had sprung on them that he was leaving. Harry felt as though too many things were happening all at once and his head was about to explode. Harry shook his head then he realised that his scar was burning. Moments later the inside of his bed curtains disappeared to be replaced with a vision of two Death Eaters screaming in agony. "Why have you not found this giant?" Harry hissed at them.

"My Lord please we are trying, but he is working to not be found, we are trying."

Harry lowered his wand, killing them now and sending new ones would only slow the process. "Try harder, the next time you report you will have the giant with you or you will feel the true strength of my wrath."

"Thank you my lord." Both the men bowed their way out of the room and then the image was replaced with Yugi's concerned face.

"Are you alright?" Yugi whispered. Harry dragged himself to a sitting position and realised that he was shaking. Yugi looked terrified so Harry gave him a quick hug and fished a Sugar Quill out of the box sitting next to his bed. "Voldemort isn't happy. Apparently the Death Eaters are having a lot of trouble tracking down that giant mage. Do you think Yami will have better luck?"

Yugi took the quill out of his mouth, "Yes, he has hunted down giant mages before so he knows what to look for. The Death Eaters do not."

Suddenly a horrible thought entered Harry's mind, "Yugi he isn't going to kill that giant is he."

Yugi shook his head very vigorously. "No, I made him promise not to. He is going to make the giant mage side with us instead, in return for a protective earth magic spell against Shade magic."

Harry was surprised that Yami would think of offering a giant something like that, then he realised that Yugi probably recommended it. Yugi lay back still sucking on the sugar quill. "I don't like that he has left, it makes me nervous."

Harry settled back next to him and looked up at the pattern of shadows over his bed, for a moment he could have sworn that there was something in the darkness, but he blinked and it was gone. "Yeah, I've kind of gotten used to him being around."

Yugi giggled softly. "Not many humans could ever say that."

Harry grinned at the ceiling and sighed, his eyelids dragged themselves closed.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Yami travelled over the tree tops so that he didn't have to dodge trees and assorted magical and non-magical beings. His path was largely uninterrupted, though it was also very winding, typical of following darkings who navigated by the patterns of magic in the surroundings. It was surprisingly peaceful travelling like this. He hadn't done so since he had been very young.

The ground flowed beneath them at a very rapid rate. There weren't even many Shades in this area due to the high number of elfin villages scattered around the forests. The elves didn't respond to his passing through, though he could almost sense them all pausing to see what he was doing. Yami cruised absently past three villages before he realised that he was quickly scanning each of them with his mind and magic to see if either she or her mate were there.

As he moved out of the region which contained the majority of the elves he considered something which had been bothering him for more than a year. She hadn't died, so why had she abandoned Yugi. It was one of those problems which spun around in his mind until he shoved the thought away and focused on where he was going.

The darkings were all for stopping frequently along the way to taste the various magics. Whenever they ventured within another Shades territory or over anti-Shade magic Yami waited outside of the area for them to return, hoping that the promise of giant magic was enough to entice them to return.

It was while he was waiting at the edge of a Shade territory that something slightly unexpected happened. Yami was sitting in human form at the base of a tree when a slight movement caught his eye. Yami turned his head to see another Shade appear at the inner edge of the boundary spells. Yami ignored him, keeping his attention on his hands. He didn't have the time to fight this Shade, nor could he spare the strength.

At least that was what he was telling himself, in truth it was taking all of his attention and will power to resist the urge to lunge across the space between them and attack.

The other Shade watched him for a long while before he spoke. "Why do you not attack?" Yami glanced up. The other Shade was younger than him, though still easily old enough to have his blood eyes, the scarlet iris which marked a Shade of over a thousand years. Interesting that Yami would encounter one of the few blood-eyes on the island here, still so close to Bakura's territory.

Yami recognised him as one of the Shades who had fought with Voldemort. "I have more important things to do." He replied, keeping his voice at the courteous level which he used mainly when talking to elves.

"More important than tradition, attack damn you." A whip of magic passed over the boundary and shattered a nearby tree. Yami gritted his teeth and ignored it, wishing the darkings would emerge from this territory sooner rather than later.

"Yes more important, I am tracking a giant mage." That shut the other Shade up. All Shades were careful about giant mages, being that they were one of the few other races which had magic strong enough to damage them.

"I didn't think that there were any left?" The other Shade mused softly.

Yami nearly laughed. If there was anything that had the potential to unite Shade's it was the chance of a good fight. "Nor did I, until one surfaced south."

The other Shade's darkings flittered over to Yami, drawn by the traces of human and elfin magic which drifted around him. Typical of a Shade who was very in tune with his darkings the other lifted his head. "What is wrong with you?" He demanded. Yami realised that the darkings were probably tasting the elfin and earth magics which rippled over and through his extremities.

Yami stretched and got to his feet, he could sense his own darkings returning. "I had a run in with some elves." He left it at that. If the other didn't recognise him or hadn't heard the rumours of his and Bakura's status from the darkings, then he must live in a veritable hole. Yami's darkings danced through the darkness and coiled around him. Yami immediately began to disassemble his human form. The other Shade watched in silence as Yami moved away from him.

That had been interesting, but Yami had to concentrate on the giant mage who they were very rapidly approaching according to the darkings. In fact now that Yami looked closely he could see traces of giant magic everywhere. Yami slowed his pace and took control of their navigation, concentrating on tracking the very specific giant magic through his vision filters.

* * *

_Alrightly, I have something to ask, would people like me to base our friendly giant mage on one of the Yugioh characters, and if so who do you think would be best, or would you prefer an OC. It's up to you, I can write it either way. Leave a review telling me who you would prefer. My only condition is that the mage is male, if you really want a female you'll need to give me a really good reason._


	12. Meanwhile

_Howdy. Sorry about the long wait on the update, but I am back from holidays and writing again._

Chapter 12: Meanwhile

Harry trekked his way up the staircase to McGonagall's office. As far as Harry knew Dumbledore was not at school so that left Harry to tell his Head of House about Yami leaving and the heightened protection around the school. Harry's biggest worry of course was that Yami hadn't discriminated against anyone when he said that no one would be able to get into the school.

Harry knocked on McGonagall's door and waited for her to call him in. His teacher was sitting at her desk apparently marking papers. "Yes Potter." Harry was used to her terse behaviour and just dived in. "Professor, Yami has left Hogwarts for a while, but he's put some spells on Hogwarts to prevent people from getting in."

McGonagall peered over her glasses, "What do you mean people Potter?"

Harry gave a kind of awkward shrug, even Yugi hadn't been sure what kind of protective magic Yami had placed around the school. "We don't know Professor, but I thought I should let you know in case it means everyone. Especially since Professor Dumbledore isn't here."

She stiffened faintly. "How did you know the Headmaster isn't here Potter?"

Harry shuffled his feet. Professor McGonagall could always make him feel as though he were in trouble, even if he wasn't. "Just a guess Professor, I haven't seen him in the Great Hall recently."

She nodded. "Thank you for letting me know, I will pass this on to whoever needs to know." Harry turned to leave, but she stopped him, "Do you have any idea where exactly Yami has placed the spells?"

Harry shook his head, he had asked Yugi the exact same thing. "I don't know, but Yugi thinks that they will probably be along the boundary made by the anti-Shade spells. Apparently Yami can be a little vengeful. Yugi also says not to bother trying to get rid of the spells. If someone needs to get in, we will have to call on some of the elves to open the spells. He says to let him know if we need someone in before Yami gets back."

McGonagall nodded again and this time it was a dismissal nod, so Harry backed out of the room. As he headed back to the common room, he found himself hoping that no one would need to get back into Hogwarts before Yami returned. The knowledge that no one would be able to get into Hogwarts was very comforting.

Harry pulled on his gloves and picked up his broom. It was their first Quidditch match of the season and as always against Slytherin. Harry was happy to see that Ron looked confident; in fact everyone looked pleased and ready. Harry had noticed in the last few days that the mood around the whole school had improved. Harry hadn't realised just how much of an effect Yami had on everyone's mood, he had only ever noticed it when Yami was actually nearby.

Harry led the way out onto the pitch to the roar of the crowd and made his way to the centre of the field. He faced the Slytherin captain and shook hands, or more appropriately had his hand crushed by the Slytherin captain. Madame Hooch blew on her whistle and Harry shot off the ground and immediately looked around the pitch for the Snitch.

He was distracted part way through the match watching the Chasers dash around the pitch. He was happy with his choices Katie, Ginny and Demelza worked well together. He found himself watching Ginny fly; she really was very good, the way her hair streamed out behind her... Harry shook himself and forced himself to look away from Ginny and focus on finding the snitch.

Harry sailed around the pitch for another half an hour. Gryffindor was up, but not by enough to win if the Slytherin Seeker caught the snitch before him. It was at that exact moment that Harry caught a glimpse of gold. He turned his broom and shot towards the snitch where it was flitting around the stands. Harry was always surprised that no one in the stands ever saw the snitch, so they were all roaring in delight as he zipped over their heads and scooped the tiny golden ball out of the air.

"And Harry Potter has caught the snitch, Gryffindor Wins." The commentator, who today turned out to be Zacharias Smith, yelled.

Harry dropped back down to the ground and was roundly attacked by his team in their delight. Harry grinned and led the way back to the change rooms, the mood really was a lot lighter.

He met up with Hermione and Yugi outside of the change rooms, Ron however was nowhere to be seen. As Harry walked up to the common room with them he noticed that Yugi was almost asleep in Hermione's arms. "Are you alright?" He asked, worried that Yami going might be bad for him.

Yugi stirred and opened his eyes. "I am fine, just trying to find Yami. It is hard when he is this far away."

Harry blinked, "What do you mean find him?" Hermione glanced down at Yugi.

Yugi gave him a confused look, "We can talk to each other in our minds, did you not know?"

At this point Harry and Hermione had both stopped walking and were staring at Yugi.

Harry nearly yelled, "No, why didn't you tell me?"

Yugi's eyes filled with tears and Harry immediately regretted yelling. "You did not ask. I did not think it mattered." Yugi's voice was very tiny and soft and made Harry feel like a real jerk.

Harry apologised as fast as he could, "I'm sorry Yugi; I didn't mean to yell." He took the tiny elf from Hermione and hugged him. "You just surprised me that's all." Yugi sniffed, but gave Harry a slightly watery smile.

They started back towards the common room again and Hermione started to question Yugi. "So that's how he always seems to know where you are and what you've been doing?"

Yugi nodded, his eyes were losing their focus as he tried to listen in to Hermione's questions and reach out to Yami at the same time.

"Has he found the giant mage?" She pressed.

Yugi gave a noncommittal shrug. "Not sure, he is really far away and the further he gets the harder this becomes."

Harry frowned. "How far has he managed to travel in four days?"

Yugi tilted his head, "A long way, he is very fast when he is not encumbered by anyone else."

They had reached the portrait hole and Harry muttered the password. The Fat Lady gave him a delighted look. "You'll enjoy this!" She told him.

Harry wasn't really excited by this because he suspected a party was going on. He was right. The common room was full of people all talking and laughing at once. Harry was very grateful that he had to carry Yugi, who had now gone limp and appeared to be almost asleep as it saved him from being jumped on. However it did little to stop people from surrounding him and talking to him. The worst were all the girls. They hovered around him, batting their eyelids at him and cooing baby talk to Yugi, who was watching everything drowsily.

After Harry and Hermione managed to fight their way through the thickest part of the crowd, they stumbled onto Ron kissing Lavender. Yugi made a slight choking noise and looked disgusted. Hermione gave a very faint sob and bolted for the dorm stairs. Harry turned to watch her go and Ginny squeezed her way through the crowd. "Hey Harry, good game." She glanced over his shoulder and looked disgusted as well. "Hypocrite. Looks kind of uncomfortable doesn't it?" She grinned at him and Harry managed to smile back.

Yugi giggled and then tugged on Harry's sleeve and pointed. Harry threw a quick glance the way of his pointing and saw that several girls, Romilda Vane included were fighting their way through the crowd to him. Harry bolted for the stairs and dashed up to his dorm room.

It was empty, to his relief, everyone still down in the common room. Harry sat on his bed and Yugi gave a soft contented sigh and crawled under the covers fully clothed. Harry muttered irritably to himself and pulled the covers back. Yugi made only slight protestations as Harry removed his shoes and jacket and tossed them back into his trunk.

Harry leant against a bed post and stared off out the window. It was still very early, but Harry had no wish to return to the common room. So he made a decision to catch up on his sleep.

The week after their win over Slytherin was possibly the most difficult week of the year so far. Harry was used to being stared at; it had been happening since he had started at Hogwarts. He was also used to the whispers which had started last year. However he wasn't used to the stares and whispers being mainly girls and almost always accompanied by flirtatious looks and battered eyelashes.

Harry wasn't entirely sure what to do. Yugi was no help at all. The elf seemed to find it immeasurably funny, at least until the girls took up baby talking to him again. That wiped the smile off his face very quickly.

During one of their free lessons Harry was hiding out in the Library while Hermione was wandering through the shelves looking for a book. Ron was probably up in the common room playing tongue hockey with Lavender. A group of giggling girls passed their table. Harry pretended to be very intent on the book he was reading. When he looked up Yugi was grinning at him. Harry gave him a flat look. "It's not funny."

Yugi shook his head and his face became sombre, but his bright eyes were dancing. Harry couldn't help it, he laughed. He had to choke on his laughter when Madam Price the Librarian looked his way with a frosty look. Hermione reappeared from the shelves and dropped into her seat, looking very dissatisfied. Yugi patted her hand and then his eyes got sad.

Hermione looked startled, "What's wrong Yugi?" She asked.

Yugi shook his head gently. "Just missing Yami, that is all." He sighed and rested his chin on the table. Harry glanced over at him. Yami was turning into something of a safe topic. Since Ron and Lavender had gotten together Hermione had flatly refused to talk to or about Ron, as such Harry had to alternate between which of them he was talking to. Since Hermione didn't come with a disgustingly soppy girlfriend Harry and Yugi tended to stick with her.

Hermione nodded comfortingly. "What is he doing at the moment?" Yugi had been trying to keep them posted on where Yami was, though the updates had been getting less frequent as Yami got further away. Yugi's eyes unfocused, "Travelling, it is harder further south. There are more Shades because there are fewer wizards."

Harry wondered how much longer it would possibly take, without Yami there Harry had no idea what was going on with either the Death Eaters or the Order of the Phoenix. He found that it made him more than a little nervous not to know what anyone was doing and how it affected them.

Hermione toyed with her quill, staring at her parchment. Harry had never seen her not writing furiously once she had started an essay. "Hermione what's wrong now?"

Yugi looked up and touched her hand again. "Are you alright?" He asked quietly.

Hermione looked up into their worried faces. "Yes I'm fine. Just wondering, if Yami gets back in time for Christmas, should I get him a present?" She looked back and forth between them.

Harry stared at her. He couldn't imagine Yami sitting by a tree unwrapping presents; it was an image that was just too bizarre to comprehend. Yugi burst into a fit of giggles. "No Hermione, do not buy him anything. Yami doesn't understand Christmas." Harry slid a sidelong look at the elf, Yugi hadn't even heard about Christmas until last year. The elf met his gaze and gave him a cheeky smile.

Hermione bit her lip. "It doesn't matter; surely he would appreciate something, in the spirit of the holiday."

Yugi looked at her. "The only thing Yami would appreciate as a gift would be a human who he could torment to his heart's content. Although..." His face turned thoughtful; then he grinned and clapped his hands. "I have the perfect present for him. I can put all our names on it." Yugi looked really delighted about the idea.

Harry wasn't so sure. "Yugi you aren't going to give him a human are you?"

"Do not be silly, now shush I have to think." Yugi tapped his nose absently.

Harry looked warily at Hermione, but just packed up his books. He and Hermione made their way up to the common room Yugi trailing absently in their wake.

"Baubles." Harry told the Fat Lady, she winked at him and swung open to reveal the common room. As Harry waited for Hermione to step through the entrance he wondered about Christmas. Would Yami be back in time to come with them to the Burrow, and if he did would Yugi need to put that binding spell on him again? All Harry knew was that if Yami did come back in time for their Christmas holiday then there was no way that they would be able to talk him out of coming with them.

Harry stepped into the common room and made his way immediately across the room, hoping to avoid running into any of his fan girls. It had been a futile attempt, with Slughorn's upcoming Christmas party girls had been almost attacking him for days. Harry was taking extra care when eating and drinking, he was pretty certain that none of them would be past putting a love potion in his goblet. So when Romilda Vane stepped up to him as he crossed the common room and offered him a box of chocolates, he accepted, with the full intention of throwing them in the bin the first chance he had.

Harry carted his things up to the dorm and as he was putting things away in the trunk he tossed the box of chocolates in there as well. Yugi picked the last Sugar Quill from the box on Harry's bedside table and gave the empty box a sad look. Harry grinned. He knew for certain that Ron had gotten him a box of Long-Lasting Deluxe Sugar Quills for Christmas.

"Are you going to be able to sleep if you eat that?" Harry asked Yugi as he changed into his pyjamas. There was no point staying up, he was up to date on all his work, finally. Though he expected that that wouldn't last long seeing as the Christmas holidays were fast approaching.

Suddenly Yugi gave a single startled cry and fell off the bed. Harry lunged over. "Yugi what's wrong?" He carefully disentangled the elf from the blankets that he had pulled off the bed as he fell.

"Yami found the giant mage."

* * *

_There is still a chance to put in your say as to the identity of the giant mage, review if you want to leave a mark_.


	13. Giants

_Back on schedule again, so updates every week on Saturdays. _

_I've decided to keep the giant as an OC, he's based on a character I have used before so hopefully I will be able to keep him going as I need. Thanks to all those who gave their opinions or just a review, I hear and am grateful. _

_Now on with the chapter._

Chapter 13: Giants

Yami threw himself sideways just in time to avoid the blaze of giant magic which whipped through the air. Yami grumbled and dodged behind a nearby rock. Who would have thought that the first giant mage that he had come across in three hundred years would have been one of the strongest he had ever come across?

The mage's strength made it understandable that his magic had been confusing the darkings; they had been high on the unfamiliar magic. Yami had no idea how this particular mage had managed to survive the Shade's massacre of their kind.

As the rock he was skulking behind suddenly dissolved into a pile of dust Yami dashed across the rocky cliff side and considered that most of the Shades who had come across this particular mage were probably no longer around.

Yami turned his attention around and took in the giant who was bellowing at him as he threw his magic at Yami. Like all giant mages he was smaller than the usual brute, only about twenty feet tall and he lacked the giant's normal uneven and unfinished look. In fact he looked more like an exceptionally huge human than a small giant. His head was very boulder like and covered with a thick swath of dirty yellow hair.

Yami whipped a thread of magic across the giant's knees. The giant roared in anger and pain and threw another fist full of magic, which seeing as he was a giant, was twice the size of Yami's entire form. Yami nearly had to split himself in half to avoid it.

Yami aimed for the giants legs again. Fortunately for Yami the giant was much slower than Yami, so hitting him wasn't the problem. It was hitting him in a way that wouldn't kill the mage in the process.

Yami's darkings shot up the hill and attached themselves to the giant mage's face, effectively blinding him. Yami dashed forwards, it was about time. Typically the darkings had gotten distracted and this time Yami hadn't waited for them.

The giant mage went still and turned his head. Yami paused and then took human form reluctantly. He didn't have as much manoeuvrability in this form as he did in his natural shadows. "I am here to talk to you." He yelled in slightly mangled giant.

The giant roared in delight and a net of magic settled around Yami's slim form. Yami blistered the air with curses as he struggled against the restraints, then the mage started to pull him forwards. Yami tried to take shadow form again, but the mage's spell prevented him from doing anything with his magic. He called out to the darkings. "Come little shadows, destroy this magic." They dashed over to him and immediately began to consume the spells which made up the net.

Yami pressed out on the net trying to disengage it, it buckled under both his and the darkings strength, but then he was pulled off his feet as the giant dragged him forwards again.

Yami left the ground, darkings clambering after him. Yami was lifted to eye height and the giant mage leered in at him. He then bellowed at Yami in giant. Yami took a moment to wriggle into a slightly more comfortable position and translate the words. "You do not fight like other Shades."

Yami grunted, "I am not here to kill you." This was embarrassing.

The giant shook the net. Yami was whipped back and forth fast enough to leave him with blurry vision. He wished the darkings would hurry up and break down this net. "Liar." The giant roared.

Yami winced, he really should have known that this would end badly, and he reached for the earth magic. The elemental power came willingly, Yami could tell by the look on the giant's face that he couldn't sense the new magic welling around him. "Out of the way little shadows." Yami whispered to the darkings. They scarpered and Yami tore the net apart.

He released his physical form as he dropped. The giant bellowed his fury again and threw another net. Yami dodged it this time and wrapped himself around the giant's neck. He was easily strong enough to strangle the furious mage. "Calm yourself. I am not here to kill you I am here to make you an offer. Now I will let you go if you swear not to attack me again."

The giant was gasping for breath and his thick tree trunk fingers scratched ineffectively at Yami's shadows. "Why would a Shade wish to make me an offer, you have hunted my people to near extinction."

Yami twined around the giant's ear, his darkings coiled around the other ear. "To kill that which opposes us is our nature, and it is not I who would offer you this, I am simply the messenger." Yami tightened his grip and the giant's knees buckled.

The giant gave a rumble of slightly strangled laughter. "A Shade working with another, now I know you lie blood-eyes."

"I work with an elf-child, and his human parent, they wish to make you an offer to fight the non...the one the humans call Voldemort."

The giant said nothing, but his fingers stilled. So Yami relaxed his grip slightly to see what happened. The mage did nothing, so Yami went on. "Other humans have been hunting you. They are the followers of Voldemort. They offer you many great gifts, but I offer you something greater." Now was the time to pull out the big guns, he could tell that he had the giants attention.

"Go on Shade, I am listening." He sounded interested too.

"If you return with me then the elves will supply you with a protective spell which will prevent Shade magic from harming you." Even the ever noisy darkings had gone quiet, waiting for the giants answer.

"Elf magic is supposed to be able to protect against Shade powers, but why should I trust you?" The giant asked, shifting his weight and flexing his magic. Yami re-tightened his grip and the magic relaxed again.

Yami took a breath and said softly in elfish. "You have my word." He just hoped that the giant understood elfish.

Apparently he did, because the mage turned his head to look into Yami's shadows. "Very well Shade, you have a deal. I am Drwng."

Yami released the giant and took human form, though he remained standing on Drwng's shoulder so that he would be at eye height. "I am Yami."

Drwng began to walk up the cliff. "I did not think that Shades worked with anyone, let alone an elf and a human." The giant was still glimmering with magic. He had agreed to a truce, but he certainly didn't trust Yami.

Yami shrugged, "I am bound to the elf-child, and the human is his parent. I made no active choice to walk this path."

"Must be a powerful magic to bind the will of a Shade." Yami twitched in another shrug. It wasn't really something he wanted to talk about.

"These Death Eaters have been following me for weeks now. They are nearby and will likely approach during the night." Drwng commented, Yami grinned into the giants face.

"Good our fight stretched me; I could do with a decent dose of fear."

Drwng rumbled, "Perhaps you Shades are good for something after all." He turned and pushed aside a boulder which was taller than Yami standing on his own shoulders four times over. The boulder revealed a cave and Drwng stepped inside and pushed the boulder back in place.

Yami glanced around in the gloom. Typical giant housing, take a cave and live in it. In fact the biggest difference between an average uninhabited cave and one which had a giant living in it was that a cave which had a giant usually had bits of ceiling missing where the giant had stood up too quickly and knocked his head.

Yami dropped to the ground in shadow form as Drwng called up some light. "How do you expect me to get back to your current territory if these Death Eaters are looking for me?"

Yami settled in human form next to the fire the mage conjured, but he didn't sit too close. Yami didn't trust this giant as far as he could see him and Yami could tell that the mage thought the same of him.

"I can put a Shade spell on you which will hide you completely."

Drwng snorted and sprayed snot around most of the cave. Yami had seen it coming and dropped back into shadow form so that the spray went through him rather than splattering him. He took human form again and shuddered, the darkings coiled closer to him. "You will put no Shade spell on me. Use that other magic you used."

"What magic?" Yami tried playing dumb, other races didn't need to know about the earth magic, it would only stress them out.

"Don't take me for a fool Shade, that magic you used to escape my net was not Shade. What was it?"

Yami twitched uncomfortably and felt Yugi brush his mind. He sent a comforting thought and turned his attention back to the giant. "It is elf magic; I borrowed it from the elf-child."

The giant lent back. "Must be some bond." He mused softly, then he nodded. "We leave in the morning. You will use this elf magic to disguise me and don't think I won't know if it is really Shade."

The giant lay back and placed one of his own protective wards around himself. Yami rolled his eyes and relaxed back into shadow form to rest and think. There was no way he could accomplish what he could do with his own magic, designed for deception, with the earth magic instead. He would have to use both. Yami spent half the night planning the pattern of the spell.

It was just passing midnight when Yami heard voices from outside. He made his way over to the entrance and listened closely. Human voices carried from outside the boulder guarding the entrance to the cave. A flicker of human magic crept under the boulder and touched Drwng. Yami smirked and backed up. There wasn't enough room for him to squeeze under the boulder so he would have to wait. "In here." The human whispered.

Yami drew into human form and flicked Drwng's wards with magic. The giant woke immediately and was about to yell at him, but Yami motioned for him to be quiet. The wizards were obviously still organising themselves, so Yami stretched out his fear spells. They were small enough to filter through the space around the boulder. Yami could hear the confused whispers as the Death Eaters argued about whether or not there was someone watching them as their fear filtered through Yami's senses.

"Bombardia." Someone screamed, the boulder dissolved into dust and Yami threw a wave of magic through the clearing debris. There were eight Death Eaters and six of them collapsed immediately shuddering in terror. Drwng made a snapping gesture with one hand and his net spell fell over the remaining horror struck Death Eaters, pulling them off their feet.

Yami made his way over to his six humans and leant down to look them in the face. They were hardly conscious, barely able to breath for the fear waves which were running through them. Yami picked up their wands and snapped them in half. He turned his head and smiled, Drwng was in the process of hanging the other two Death Eaters from the cave roof.

Yami examined the net with a great deal of interest now that it wasn't him caught in it. He turned and wove earth magic and Shade magic together to create a net of his own. With a lazy flick of his hand his six Death Eaters rose into the air and remained suspended next to their fellows.

Yami looked up at them and relaxed the fear spells a little so that they would understand him. "Tell your master that he had best be careful, I do not lose." He turned to leave and then hesitated. Drwng was waiting by the entrance and gave him a confused look. Yami grumbled thoughtfully, but gave in to Yugi's insistence. He looked up back. "You had better hope that someone finds you soon, because too long in that net could be fatal." Warning delivered Yami followed Drwng out of the cave.

"You warned them?" Drwng asked curiously.

Yami twitched his shadows as he led the giant down the hill, they would need to get further from here before Yami spelled his new travelling companion. "My elf insisted."

Drwng didn't comment, but he looked very thoughtful. Not the sort of expression one normally saw on a giant's face.

Once they were far enough down the mountain Yami turned his attention up. "I can spell you now, and then we should leave."

Drwng looked down at him, or almost at him, it was dark and the giant was having great difficulties actually locating Yami's sleek shadows. "No Shade magic."

Yami twitched again and wove the earth magic and Shade magic together. He was glad of the boost from the Death Eaters because using the earth magic was very tiring and he had no wish to become vulnerable to the giant's attack if he should decide that he didn't like Yami much. The spell settled over Drwng, because it was Shade magic wrapped in earth magic, the giant didn't even notice the Shade part of the spell. Yami felt particularly devious.

Drwng examined the spell. "So no one will be able to detect me?"

Yami took off in the direction of Hogwarts. "That is the idea."

"Then may I ask, how am I supposed to follow you if I cannot see where you are?" The giant snapped.

Yami turned and dashed up his front and wrapped himself around Drwng's neck. "Is this better." The giant grumbled something that sounded like wise-ass Shade, but seeing as Yami's giant wasn't excellent he couldn't be sure. Yami pointed his ride in the right direction and they were off, the darkings dashing around the giant's feet. Yami could tell that they were happy that the giant's magic was no longer confusing them. Darkings weren't used to magic having an effect on them.

Yami settled back and watched the land pass by. He would have to guide them around the Shade territories, but that wouldn't be too difficult.

They would be back in time for the holidays.


	14. Light and the Shadows

Chapter 14: Light and the Shadows

Harry was stretched out on his bed, his mind just on that pleasant verge of sleep when the door to their dorm opened. "Potter." Professor McGonagall was leaning over him wearing her tartan dressing gown.

Harry sat up and Yugi awoke with a yawn. "Yes Professor." He whispered back and glanced around the room, everyone appeared to be asleep already.

"Come with me." She glanced down quickly at Yugi. "You too please." The elf nodded and slid off the bed, he stuffed his feet into his soft soled boots and grabbing his scarf and hat. Harry pulled his robes on over his pyjamas and followed his teacher down stairs.

They made their way to the Entrance Hall where the teachers were waiting, some in dressing gowns, other in their robes. Snape sneered when he saw Yugi and Harry hurrying in McGonagall's footsteps. "Do you actually believe that Potter will be able to undo this?" He sounded doubtful. Harry now suspected what was going on so he turned to McGonagall and asked, "Professor is Dumbledore back?"

"He has returned Potter, but he is stuck outside of the spells which Yami has placed around Hogwarts." McGonagall looked concerned, Harry guessed that they weren't used to not knowing how a spell worked.

She turned her gaze to Yugi who gave her a sleepy smile. "It seems that Portkeys and Floopowder cannot penetrate the spells either, you said that you would be able to help." Yugi nodded gently and looked at the enormous double doors which were closed for the night.

Harry translated. "I think he wants to go outside Professor." Yugi nodded. So with a wave of her wand McGonagall opened the wooden barriers and Yugi leapt out of Harry's arms and ran off into the night before Harry had even a chance to stop him.

"What is he doing?" Professor Flitwick asked curiously.

Harry shrugged; he was as confused as they were. "I don't know, calling the other elves I guess. He said that we would need their help to take down the spells. Only if Dumbledore can't get in I don't know how they will be able to."

They all stood in silence for a long time, Slughorn coughed. "Why can we not remove these spells. After all we know where they are?" The question was directed at the other teachers, but Harry found himself answering it.

"You can't, Shade magic is too powerful. Nothing you do will affect the spells. Yami wouldn't have made them easy to undo; they are supposed to protect Yugi and I. Not much point if they can be undone by just anyone."

Slughorn looked doubtful and Harry realised that he was one of the humans who strictly believed that humans were better than everyone else. Harry shrugged and then movement caught his eye. Yugi was running back across the lawn. He gave them all a thumbs up and wandered over to Harry who picked him up. McGonagall looked at him, "How long will the others be?" She asked politely.

Yugi tilted his head on the side, made a vague gesture with one hand and looked at Harry. Harry had no idea what that motion was supposed to mean. "What?"

Yugi sighed and wriggled around so that he could whisper into Harry's ear. "Half an hour."

Harry relayed the message to the Professors who all made the decision to wait out the time in the Great Hall with drinks. Harry joined them at McGonagall's insistence.

Yugi was chewing on a biscuit he had dunked in his hot chocolate. Harry was thinking that if Ryou came to help he had another question for him.

Harry looked down at Yugi, "How will the elves get through the spells?" Yugi just looked at him and waited patiently. Harry stared back at him for a moment then he grinned. Right, earth magic, the elves would be able to pass through Yami's spells using earth magic. Though how was way beyond where Harry was at with the elemental power. Harry also supposed that Yami would have wanted the elves to be able to get in if Yugi needed help.

Half an hour passed slowly, the teachers were all talking in hushed voices. Harry contemplated life in his tea cup. Yugi made pictures in biscuit crumbs. Then the little elf's head snapped up and tilted on the side. Harry watched Yugi as he cooed happily and hurried for the door. The teachers looked up as Harry stumbled to his feet to follow him. As they stepped back out into the entrance hall the doors opened.

Harry's experience with elves was limited to Yugi and Ryou. Ryou was thankfully there; he had knelt in front of Yugi and was singing to him softly.

The other two elves who had accompanied the white haired elf were females. True to Harry's suspicions they were both unusually beautiful. The first was taller than Ryou with a wealth of thick golden blonde hair and dark violet eyes. Harry had to force himself to keep his eyes on her face and not let them get dragged down the rest of her curvaceous form. The other elf was shorter and slimmer; she had short brown hair and bright sapphire blue eyes. Both the elves returned his scrutiny.

Ryou glanced up. "Hello Harry, this is Mai and Tea. They are here to help me dissolve Yami's spell. Hopefully." The girls smiled sweetly.

Professor McGonagall stepped forwards. "Minerva McGonagall, thank you for coming to help." She held out her hand and Ryou smiled calmly at her. Harry had a sudden and rather horrified thought and looked around desperately, hoping that Bakura wasn't there.

"I am Ryou, and it is our pleasure. I only hope that we can help. Shade spells are notoriously tricky." Ryou smiled at Harry as he noticed him looking around. "Don't worry, he didn't come." Harry relaxed. Ryou's Shade Bakura was not nearly as pleasant as Yami.

"We'll manage." Golden haired Mai told the worried looking Professors, "So long as Bakura did not lie."

Ryou's deep brown eyes shifted, the two elves exchanged a look and Ryou shook his head marginally. He turned back to them. "We will get started." He looked down at Yugi, "We will need your help to find the spells."

Yugi looked uncomfortable. He shifted and hid his face in Harry's robes. Ryou sighed and said something in elfish to him. Yugi shook his head without revealing his face. Ryou looked up at Harry. "Please talk to him Harry, we need his help. I don't know Yami's magic well enough to locate the spells quickly. Without Yugi it may take days to even find the spells."

Harry looked around for a secluded spot where they could talk in private. He scooped Yugi up and went back into the now empty Great Hall. Ryou followed him, leaving the other elves with the teachers. Harry sat on a bench and set Yugi on the table. "What's wrong?"

"He does not want me to help." Yugi murmured, still looking frightfully embarrassed. "Yami put the spells there to keep us safe. He will be cross if I take them down." He looked hopefully at Ryou. "I was hoping that you could just open them."

Ryou shook his head. "I looked as we came through, the magic he has used is too complex. It was designed to keep things out and remain standing until it was taken down."

Yugi winced. "Can you not do it alone?"

Ryou sighed and stroked Yugi's hair. "I could, but it will take me time to locate Yami's spells, and I need to know exactly where they are if we are to take them down. You know Yami's magic better than anyone else."

Yugi nodded and looked uncomfortably back and forth between the two of them. Then he closed his eyes and buried his face in his hands. Harry reached out to touch him, comfort him or something, but Ryou caught his hand. "Leave him Harry, he is talking to Yami."

Harry frowned, "How do you know?"

"I know the effort required to speak with your Shade across any great distance. The further they are the more effort it requires."

Harry looked back at Yugi and remembered his question. He turned back to the white haired elf. "Ryou, why will Yugi only talk to me, Ron and Hermione?"

Ryou smiled. "Elfin children are discouraged from speaking to humans, your people have not always been kind and understanding towards us and so we avoid you as much as possible. However you have probably noticed that Yugi will talk to me and the House Elves." Harry nodded and Ryou continued. "I have known Yugi since he was born so he knows me and trusts me. We elves are not a communicative race our children will usually only speak to those adults who they know very well. Yugi is also incredibly shy, you probably have not noticed, because with those of us he knows well he relaxes and can be himself. However others make him nervous, it takes him a long time to get to know people."

Harry nodded and looked over at Yugi's bowed head. He had noticed that Yugi tended to hide his face when he was around people he didn't know, and it certainly explained why he was still very careful around the other Weasley's.

Yugi lifted his head, "Yami says that we can take down the spells on the condition that you stay here until he gets back."

Ryou shook his head. "I have to go home Yugi, I am sorry."

Yugi shook his head back, "He is nearly here, only a few days away. Please Ryou, I will not go against him, it will upset him."

Ryou sighed and rubbed his eyes. "So long as it is not more than a few days, Bakura will get testy if I am gone longer than that."

Yugi gave them both his brightest smile and slid from the bench, "Come on then." He trotted out of the Great Hall with the two of them following in his footsteps. Yugi wound his way through the cluster of teachers and smiled up at them before joining Mai and Tea where the two of them stood talking to McGonagall. Ryou joined the three of them and they walked out into the grounds. Harry went after them, but McGonagall grabbed his arm. "I don't think so Potter you will stay here."

"But Professor..." Harry complained.

"But nothing Potter, I have no idea what they are doing, but you will stay here."

Harry stepped back and scuffed his feet on the stone floor in irritation.

It didn't take long, the elves were obviously using earth magic to undo Yami's spells and whatever they were doing it was powerful. Harry could feel the magic singing through the air. It was as strong as the magic that Harry had called up unconsciously last year. Harry gasped and staggered sideways. He was vaguely aware of McGonagall grabbing his arm and trying to get his attention, but all Harry could feel was the magic.

He had been immersed in Yami's shadowy magic, it had as cold as ice, it was darkness and death and terror. This was brighter and it burnt like fire searing him to his very core. Last time Harry had wielded the earth magic to the extent that the elves were now he had been beyond exhaustion, this time the magic sung to him, called to him.

Harry walked forwards following the magic's call. He stepped out onto the lawn and walked through the darkness, oblivious to the teachers calling out from behind him. The three adult elves stood in a semi-circle behind Yugi, their hands linked. Harry's elf glanced over his shoulder at Harry's approach and shook his head. The thread snapped and Harry stopped walking.

His head felt light and empty, he looked around feeling a little confused. Yugi gave the other three elves a quick look and then he left his place and walked over to Harry. "Do not listen too closely Harry." Yugi said softly.

Harry looked down at him, "It sounds... different." He said awe-filled.

Yugi smiled. "Of course it does, it sounds different when different people use it."

Harry looked down. "Is it working?"

Yugi frowned slightly. "Sort of. Yami tied his guarding spells in with the protective spells which are already around the school. It is making things a little difficult."

Harry nodded and glanced over his shoulder. "I think I am going to get in trouble."

Yugi looked over in the direction that Harry had been. McGonagall was storming across the lawn. "Sorry Harry." Yugi looked truly apologetic.

Harry picked him up. "Put your cutest look on and follow my lead." He told Yugi. The elf gave him an odd look, but turned to face to Harry's teacher.

"Potter I thought I told you to stay put." She glanced nervously at the three elves who were now frowning intently, the magic singing around them.

Harry shuffled in mock embarrassment. "Sorry Professor, but Yugi called me and I couldn't say no." He tightened his grip on the tiny elf and Yugi obliged him with an appropriately wide eyed look. Harry watched in awe as his strictest teacher crumbled beneath Yugi's amethyst gaze. "Well, next time you will listen. Are they almost done?" She glanced again over Harry's shoulder. Yugi made a so-so gesture with his hand.

The three of them stood and watched for another few minutes. Then the music changed again and finally faded. Ryou lowered his hands. The two females shook their heads, sending their hair shimmering in the moonlight. "Whoa, Bakura was not kidding, that was convoluted." Tea said with a faint laugh, she looked tired.

Mai smiled wearily back at her, "Yeah, I think we could do with a ride back home, hey hun." Tea smiled and nodded. Mai faded into the darkness as Tea turned to glance over at Ryou, but the white haired elf had turned to speak to McGonagall.

"It is done." Ryou matched eyes with McGonagall. "We had to undo some of the protective spells on the castle to undo what Yami had done, I think we put them all back the way that they were, but I cannot be sure until the spells are tested."

McGonagall nodded. "Thank you for your help, I will inform Professor Dumbledore when he arrives."

Ryou smiled. "I will tell him myself. I promised that I would remain to protect Yugi until Yami returned and I do not go back on my promises." He looked over at Tea, but Mai had joined her followed by three fabulously white unicorns, glowing softly in the night. Harry stared in amazement. That was some ride home. Tea looked worried. "You are not coming back with us?"

Ryou shook his head. "I will return in a few days, do not worry."

Mai scoffed softly. "It is Bakura that we are worried about, he will not be happy about this."

Ryou rolled his eyes. "He is never happy." He made a snapping gesture with his wrist and a shadow detached itself from the darkness around them and travelled over to Tea. "Give that to him and tell him not to be such a sook."

Harry watched the little shadow with a great deal of curiosity, it was very similar to the shadows that he kept glimpsing around the place, those shadows that sometimes seemed like a part of Yami. He wondered again if they were related to the massive shadow that Yami had called 'darkings' last year. Tea looked less than pleased about the tiny shadow, but she pocketed it. "We will see you soon Ryou, keep safe."

The two elfin women climbed onto the unicorns backs and rode off into the forest. McGonagall looked momentarily confused as to exactly what she was supposed to do with their new elfin guest. She coughed politely. "Well please come inside. Professor Dumbledore will be here soon."

The three of them followed her and the other teachers back across the lawn. They arrived in the Great Hall at the same time as Dumbledore. Harry looked at the Headmaster and wondered where he had been. Dumbledore looked at Ryou over his half-moon glasses. 'I assume I have you to thank for removing those spells. I am Albus Dumbledore."

Ryou smiled back at him and shook his hand. Harry noticed that his eyes went straight to Dumbledore's blackened hand. '" am Ryou, and it was my pleasure."

Ryou glanced around at the gathered teachers. "I hope my presence will not be too much of an issue, but if I do not remain until Yami returns he will be very angry." Ryou flinched faintly. "Trust me; an angry Shade is not something you ever want to encounter."

Everyone shuddered and muttered their agreement. Harry just shrugged, and grinned down at Yugi, who smiled back and rolled his eyes. Dumbledore smiled at Ryou. "It will be no problem, I'm sure we can find somewhere comfortable for you to stay." Ryou bowed slightly and thanked him.

Yugi giggled, drawing attention back to the two of them. "Back to bed Potter." McGonagall said firmly and pointed him in the direction of the common room.

Harry sighed and headed off. Yugi hesitated, he wanted to stay and talk to Ryou and then he yawned. Harry padded back and picked him up, "You can talk to Ryou tomorrow. If you keep yawning like that you are going to break your jaw." Yugi gave Harry a sleepy smile and relaxed back into Harry arms as the human carried him upstairs.

Harry stepped through the portrait and into a crowd of people. Harry caught sight of Hermione and wriggled his way through the people, all of whom were now trying to get his attention. "Hermione what's going on?" Harry asked. Yugi was rubbing his eyes, trying to wake up.

Hermione shook her head, "I don't know, heaps of people just woke up, there was this noise. Where have you been?" Everyone was leaning in to listen to Harry's reply

Harry looked around and realised that everyone there had been in the DA last year. He looked down at Yugi who was blinking slowly. "Could it have been the earth magic?" Harry asked him. Yugi nodded.

Harry raised his voice. "Alright everyone, don't panic, there were just some elves here doing something with the earth magic, that magic Yami was teaching us last year. It's nothing to worry about, just go back to bed."

Some people grumbled and headed back to bed, others looked impressed and required a bit more encouragement.

Harry moaned as he glanced at the time, it was now nearly one in the morning, no wonder people were annoyed. Hermione had stayed, "Harry why were the elves here?"

"Letting Dumbledore back in, Yami's spell was really effective. In the morning I'll introduce you to Ryou, I'm sure he'd love to meet you. I'm going to bed." Hermione had looked very excited about meeting an elf, but Harry wanted to go back to bed he had had enough excitement for tonight. "Night Hermione." He called over his shoulder and ran up the stairs.

The dream as usual was real. Harry watched through Voldemort's eyes as he tortured the Death Eaters who had failed to capture the giant mage. The horrific waves of cold pleasure mingled with Harry's own horror at the Death Eaters pain. He snapped awake.

For the first time since Yugi had arrived at Hogwarts Harry woke up without the elf beside him.

Harry was understandably freaked, his dream suddenly forgotten. Where had he gone? Yami was going to kill him if he lost Yugi. Harry smashed his knee against his trunk in his search and doubled over with a howl of pain. His yelling woke everyone in the dorm. Ron leapt out of bed, "Harry what's wrong mate?" Neville stumbled upright while Dean and Seamus grabbed for their wands.

Harry rubbed his leg in agony. "Yugi's missing; I have no idea where he is." Harry's heart was racing as worry coursed through him. Ron's face went pale and he looked around, "No note."

Harry shivered, and then remembered last night, Ryou was here; maybe he knew where Yugi was. "Come on Ron." Harry cried, throwing on his robes and grabbing his bag.

Harry was down the stairs and out the portrait hole before Ron even had a chance to grab his socks. Harry was halfway to the Great Hall when he realised that he had no idea where Ryou was. Harry stopped dead. "Damn." He said out loud. Some of the portraits muttered about his language, but Harry ignored them. 'Think Harry', he thought to himself, 'Where would they put Ryou?'

No idea, but the best place to find a teacher at this time was the Great Hall so Harry ran in that direction. He made it to the Great Hall in record time only to find a large group of girls standing around a corner of the Gryffindor table. Harry was torn, but finally he gave in to his curiosity and headed over.

The reason for the knot of people was Ryou. The beautiful elf was seated calmly at the table eating his breakfast and being flooded with questions. Harry's knees went weak. Sitting next to Ryou looking a little confused was Yugi. Harry pushed through the crowd, ignoring the dirty looks that the girls gave him.

"Yugi, what are you doing?" Yugi looked up at him and gave him a delighted smile, but true to form said nothing. "I was worried, you just disappeared." Harry told him. Yugi frowned at him and shook his head, he glanced at Ryou and whispered something in elfish. The girls around them all sighed in delight. Ryou chuckled softly and looked at Harry over his teacup. "He did tell you. Apparently you told him it was fine to come and find me. You must have been talking in your sleep." Ryou gave him a slightly apologetic look.

Harry sat on the bench next to Yugi and hugged him. "Next time make sure I'm actually awake."

Yugi laughed and nodded. Harry was a little nervous by the number of girls around them. Ryou didn't seem all that pleased by it either, but he was a bit too polite to tell them to get lost. Fortunately Professor McGonagall wasn't, she ordered everyone back to their tables. "I apologise for them Ryou, they are somewhat curious." Harry grinned into his pumpkin juice, he would have said that they were overly hormonal teenagers, but hey that was just him.

The girls dispersed grumbling unhappily allowing Ron to join him. Hermione hovered for a moment, but obviously her curiosity at meeting Ryou overpowered her current want to ignore Ron. "Ryou these are my friends Ron and Hermione. Guys this is Ryou."

"How do you do." Hermione said with delight and shook Ryou's offered hand. She sat down next to him without looking at Ron. Ron glared at her. "So why are you still here?" As Ryou turned his calm brown eyes towards her Hermione blushed. "Not that you aren't welcome, of course. It's just that well this doesn't seem like the sort of place that you would really wish to stay. Not to mention..." Ron had elbowed her in the side. Harry was glad that she didn't snap at him instead she looked worried. "Sorry."

Ryou smiled, "He is less than happy with this arrangement, but he currently preoccupied with planning revenge on Yami." Ryou chuckled softly. "At least he can keep himself entertained."

Harry grinned and tucked into his bacon.

Ryou was there for two days, so for two days Harry rarely saw Yugi. His tiny elf returned to the common room each night, but was gone before Harry had woken in the morning. The morning of the third day dawned overcast. Harry woke up feeling inexplicably cold. He shivered and pulled the blankets closer around him. As expected Yugi was gone, but that didn't explain why the blankets gave him no warmth.

Harry opened his eyes and looked directly into a familiar pair of scarlet irises. "Yami!" Harry cried in surprise. Yami's hand snapped out and covered his mouth, Harry's eyes widened and he looked around quickly, but no one had even stirred.

Harry breathed a sigh of relief and wriggled out of bed. Yami stepped back and waited while Harry pulled on his clothes. "When did you get here?" Harry asked as he motioned for the Shade to follow him downstairs. Once they were in the common room Yami stalked over to the window. "Only a few minutes ago, I have something to show you."

Harry followed him over and looked out of the window. Standing on the lawn below was a giant. He stood about twenty feet tall and was less stupid looking that Grwap, Hagird's half brother. "You found the giant mage!" Harry said. Admittedly he knew this as Yugi had told them when Yami had found him, what did surprise Harry was that Yami had brought the mage back here. Yami shrugged. "Of course, where is Yugi?"

Harry looked at Yami suspiciously. "He's around; don't you know?"

Yami shrugged, "I would have to look. He hasn't called to me in two days. I assume that means that Ryou is still here." Harry nodded.

Yami tilted his head slightly. "Good, now you can come with me and I will introduce Dumbledore to Drwng." Yami turned on his heel and led the way out of the common room. Harry hurried after him. "Isn't it kind of risky leaving the giant on the lawn, everyone can see him?"

Yami smirked at Harry and turned to make his way up to Dumbledore's office. "You are the only one who can see him. He is magically hidden from view." Yami stopped as the gargoyle leapt aside and Dumbledore stepped out from behind it. Right, Harry thought, the bond to Yugi meant that he could see things as they truly were.

Dumbledore smiled at them both. "Welcome back Yami, I trust that your journey proved fruitful?"

Yami tilted his head and looked slightly confused. "I found the giant mage, human. Fruit never came into it. Come with me, he wishes to meet you. Then you can take him away. He is driving me nuts."

Harry grinned and fell into stride with him. Yami was frowning intently at his feet as he walked. Then like a cloud lifting the Shade gave the faintest of smiles and lifted his head. Around the corner, moving faster than Harry would have thought possible, came Yugi. The elf gave a delighted cry and launched himself into Yami's waiting arms. Ryou strolled around the corner at a slightly more sedate pace. "Hello Yami." Yami turned his eye upwards.

"Thank you for staying Ryou." He said carefully and rubbed his cheek across Yugi's hair. The elf-child laughed and nuzzled into his chest and gave Harry a cheeky grin. Harry looked up at Ryou, fully aware of the grin on his face. "So are you going home now?"

Ryou nodded. "Yes. It has been interesting, but I really need to go home and talk Bakura out of wandering by and trying to kill the giant." He turned his attention to Dumbledore who had been watching the exchange silently. "'Thank you for your hospitality Albus, I hope to see you again." He turned to go and paused, looking over his shoulder he added. "Be careful of the giant mage, they are surprisingly powerful and Shades will be very attracted to him." Then he was gone.

Dumbledore stroked his beard thoughtfully and glanced down at Yami. "Is that true?"

Yami looked at him, "Yes, Shades will kill giant mages on sight. They were a danger to us." He looked smug, "They are no longer, there are very few if any left." He headed off again and the two humans followed him.

They reached the lawn to find the Heads of Houses waiting for them. Snape looked at Harry and his eyes narrowed. "Headmaster is it really necessary for Potter to see this?"

Dumbledore looked at Harry over his half-moon glasses and then those X-ray blue eyes turned to Yami who was glaring at him. "I think that Harry will find out anyway."

Yami nodded firmly and stepped out onto the lawn. Yugi's eyes were on the giant, the instant he towering creature appeared around the corner, Yugi's eyes got bigger. Harry swallowed. Up close the giant was terrifying. The teachers were all looking around confused. "Well where is he?" McGonagall asked.

Yami pointed, a whirl of shadows exploded from the palm of his hand something around the twenty foot monstrosity shifted and all the teachers took one big step back. Harry had to admit that it was satisfying to see a looked of startled fear on Snape's greasy features.

The giant turned his attention downwards. "So these are your humans Shade, interesting."

Yami growled. "They are not mine, that one is the only one which is mine. The others are the ones who wish to work with you." Harry's eyebrows went up as Yami pointed to him. Yami had never called him 'his' human before. Harry wasn't sure whether to be flattered or worried.

The giant doubled over and looked over the teachers. Dumbledore bowed slightly and was obviously about to speak when the giant cut him off. He had now turned to Yugi who was watching him from the safety of Yami's hip. "And you must be the young elf. What magic is it you have which is so strong as to command a Shade?"

Yugi just stared at him in blank astonishment. Yami glared at him again and shot a look at Dumbledore. The Headmaster stepped forwards. He cleared his throat. "Welcome to Hogwarts, though perhaps this would not be the best place for you to stay. We can find a more comfortable place for you to live where we can easily communicate with you."

The giant reached down and picked up Dumbledore. The teachers all pulled out their wands. "Let us talk human." Dumbledore glanced down at the other four teachers and nodded to them. He then shifted around so that he was standing on the giant's palm. "Of course, what would you like to know?"

The giant turned and walked off. Yami rolled his eyes and turned his back on the two of them. "Do you not have children to torment?" He asked McGonagall. The stern woman glared at him and turned on her heel to head inside.

Yugi giggled and hugged Yami. "I am glad you are back."

Harry grinned. "Me too. Things were getting too cheery around here without you around." He clapped the Shade on the shoulder and followed his teachers inside, missing Yami's bemused smile.

* * *

_Yes I have introduced more Yugioh characters, this is mainly because I don't like it when too many OC's turn up in stories. It is easier to use pre-established characters._

_I wasn't going to introduce any more than I had already, but then I didn't expect to have to take down a Shade barrier spell powered with earth magic when I started this story._

_I'm fairly sure that these will be the last of the Yugioh characters to be introduced, bar one, but you have met him already. There will be a few OC's introduced, but that won't be for a while._


	15. Christmas Parties

_Gah. Sorry about this chapter, I got distracted and wrote the last chapter of the story instead of finishing this. At least the procrastination was productive, but that's the second time I've done that._

_Thank you to my reviewers, sorry I couldn't reply to any of them, I've been hyperactively busy this week._

Chapter 15: Christmas Parties

Harry looked at himself in the mirror and shuddered. He was dressed in his dress robes and ready to go to Slughorn's Christmas party. He and Hermione were going together and unfortunately Yugi had managed to talk Yami into bullying Harry into letting the elf stay in the dorms. Yugi claimed that having to put up with Ron and Lavender was going to be enough of a punishment.

Yami was currently stretched out on Harry's bed. Yugi sat next to him watching Harry look in the mirror. For once Yugi was completely sombre, though Harry suspected this was just because if Yugi cracked a smile Harry was going to drag both of them along to the party. Harry glared at his reflection one more time before turning to head downstairs. "So you two aren't coming at all?"

Yugi shook his head and Yami smirked without opening his eyes.

Harry sighed. "The party wouldn't last long if you came Yami." he tried.

The Shade opened his eyes. "I don't think so." His deep voice was undeniably amused, though that could have just been because Harry was so grumpy about going.

Harry scowled at him, spun on his heel and went to meet Hermione, Ginny and Dean in the common room.

Several people were watching jealously. Many of them girls focused on Harry. Harry grabbed Hermione by the hand and dragged her out of the common room. He suspected that there would be a whole new round of rumours going around about him and Hermione now.

Harry dropped back to a more normal speed once they were further down the corridor away from the portrait hole. He also let go of Hermione's hand. All four of them were quiet as they walked. None of them were particularly interested in going to the party, but none of them had been able to think of a good enough excuse to get out of going. Harry was only going because of Dumbledore's request to get close to Slughorn, otherwise he would have just run in the opposite direction, insults be damned and let Yami take care of an angry Slughorn.

"Hello Harry." Luna wandered past as they headed down the corridor, and smiled at them all. "Going to the Christmas party?" She asked. Harry stopped and smiled at her, anything to put off going to the party.

Ginny and Dean headed off with faint smiles at Harry and Luna. Hermione for once decided that Luna was a good distraction."Yeah, you didn't get invited?" Harry asked. The party would be much more interesting if Luna was coming along. Luna shook her head. "No, but I was wondering if Yami was around somewhere, I wanted to ask him something?"

Harry hardly blinked. Luna had known that Yami was a Shade since she had first met him. Harry had stopped wondering how she knew things like this, he suspected Yami knew, but there was no point asking him either. "Yeah he is with Yugi in the dorms. I can go get him if you like."

Luna smiled at him brightly. "Thank you."

"Harry." Hermione said.

Harry grinned at her. "I'll just be a second Hermione." Hermione didn't want to go to the party any more than he did, but she still hated being late.

Harry ran back down the hall way and into the common room up to the dorms. Yugi and Yami had just started a game of wizard's chess. "Hey Yami." Harry said, a little out of breath from the run. "Luna is outside the common room and she wants to talk to you."

Yami grunted. "Can you not bring her here?" He asked without looking up. Yugi had just moved one of his knights and Yami was now frowning in concentration.

Harry shook his head. "We aren't supposed to let other Houses into our common room."

Yami looked over at Yugi who smiled and slid off the bed, picking up his hat and mittens.

"I'll leave you to it then." Harry dashed back downstairs and back down the corridor to where Hermione and Luna waited. "Yami will be down in a bit, you can wait here for him." Harry and Hermione turned and headed off.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Yami stepped out of the silent common room and into the corridor. The students within had only noticed him once he had been halfway across the room, after which all of them had watched him, shaking. Humans were strange.

Yami looked around, stretching out his senses and found the part-elf around the corner. Yugi followed him curiously. /I wonder what she wants?/

Yami shrugged and padded as silently as he could up behind her. Yugi rolled his eyes. Luna turned around a moment before Yami stopped behind her. She gave him her usual vacant smile. "Hello. I was wondering if I could ask you something about the earth magic."

Yami lifted an eyebrow. "This way." He said and led her into an unused classroom. "What did you want to know?" He asked as Luna balanced herself carefully on one of the wobbly chairs and Yugi climbed up onto a desk.

"Can I start using it more? Sometimes it seems easier than wand magic." Luna asked with a surprising amount of intensity.

Yami looked at Luna, though her face seemed vacant, her eyes were watching him carefully. Yami shrugged. "You have the potential to become very skilled with the earth magic, but I am not the person to teach you. You will need to get in contact with the elves." Luna glanced at Yugi. So Yami cut her off. "Not Yugi, you must approach them directly. Ask one of the House Elves if they can help you, that is the correct way." Yugi nodded behind her as Yami pulled knowledge of the correct way to approach an elf out of the recesses of Yami's mind.

Luna nodded. "Alright, thank you. Do you think they will come here to teach me?"

Yami tilted his head. "That will depend on who teaches you."

Luna nodded and flounced happily out of the room. Yami watched her go without speaking. Yugi came up behind him and reach up to tap him on the hand. Yami looked down and picked up the tiny elf. "Yes." He asked.

Yugi frowned at him. "What are you thinking?"

Yami shook his head. "I know Harry's ability to use the earth magic is basically innate now, but surely he still needs to learn the ideas behind it. I am not exactly the best teacher for him and he has done no practice at all since the summer."

Yugi considered that. "Maybe not, but the earth magic responds differently to Harry. It is more likely to just do what he thinks, so he doesn't need to learn exactly how to use it." Yugi seemed confident about that, but Yami wasn't so sure.

Yami picked Yugi up and they headed back to the dorms. Yami decided that it would be easier if he went in through the window so with Yugi's slightly begrudging permission he dissolved back into his shadow form and took the stealthy way into the Gryffindor tower.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Harry couldn't believe how badly he wanted to get out of here. In almost exactly the same way as the last party Slughorn had herded him up and introduced him to everyone. At one point Hermione had escaped and so he was left by himself talking to a bunch of puffed up people all of whom only wanted to talk about Yugi.

Harry had discovered later into the night that his best defence was actually a scowl. People saw him looking cross and immediately excused themselves, putting as much distance between him and them as they could.

Once he had scared away two Lockhart impersonators with a scowl that would have made Yami proud, Harry ducked behind a curtain. Hopefully Slughorn wouldn't be able to find him here.

"Harry." Harry nearly jumped out of his skin when Hermione grabbed his arm. "What are you doing here?" She asked.

"Hiding, wouldn't you be?" Harry told her, exasperated.

Hermione frowned. "It's been pretty bad for me too. Let's just go." She said tugging on his wrist.

Harry nodded and after a quick peek they both made a run for it. They pushed carefully through the crowds trying to avoid Slughorn and other celebrities. Thankfully they made it to the door without any trouble and slipped out without being noticed. Harry led the way through the corridors back to the common room, when something drew his attention.

Harry stopped and looked around the corner ahead carefully. There was no one there. "Harry?" Hermione asked. As she spoke something flickered again so Harry frowned and reached out.

Hermione stifled a gasp as she sensed the earth magic rising up to Harry's call. He gritted his teeth, not entirely sure how he wanted this to work. He wanted to see what he was feeling. The magic dragged on his strength and a door appeared in the wall.

Harry walked towards it, stretching out the magic around him into a shield. His legs wobbled slightly, but Harry ignored it. He had used more magic than this and come out alright. Hermione hissed at him, but stayed where she was when he motioned. Harry opened the door.

Within was nothing but a broom cupboard. Harry frowned and then opened and closed the door a few times. Nothing changed. Harry tried using the earth magic to make the door do something, but there was nothing. Harry released the magic and stood still for a moment while the world spun. Hermione touched his arm. "Harry, are you alright?"

Harry turned to her and nodded. "Yeah fine, I just thought... Never mind, let's go."

As they walked away the once again invisible door opened and a terrified pair of eyes peered out before vanishing into the room beyond.

* * *

_I feel that I may have skirted the point of this chapter. _

_So sorry again, it was a bit of a rushed job, but if I didn't get something up then I would just fuss over it and I'd rather just move on with the story, the idea is there, even if it isn't well played out._

_ADDITIONAL: To anyone who has read this before, there was a very big and glaring error in this chapter. At this point in the story no one knows that Yami is a Shade, hell most people don't even know he exists. At the time I obviously didn't notice, apparently no one else did either. Still it has been bothering me for months and so I've fixed it now, with some slightly dodgy editing._


	16. Christmas Time is Here

_This is a long one people, I tried to split it, but I just couldn't find a good spot without making one part of it really short._

Chapter 16: Christmas Time is here

Harry checked his bag for the third time. He had already sent all his Christmas presents to the Burrow via owl. Yugi's stuff was also packed and ready.

Harry shouldered his bag and ambled down to the common room. Yugi and Yami were both waiting with Ron. Hermione was talking to Yugi in low tones, tugging his shirt straight and generally fussing over him. Yugi was smiling calmly at her and letting her fuss. There was no one else present, they had all headed out for the first day of the Christmas holidays.

Harry smiled as he jumped down the last step. Hermione had refused to come to the Burrow over Christmas; instead she was staying at Hogwarts. Apparently she was going to miss Yugi most of them all. Yami turned to look at Harry and smirked. His dark violet eyes flashed his amusement, Harry grinned back. "Ready to go?"

Yami nodded and glanced down at Yugi. The elf gave Hermione a hug. "We'll be back before you know it." He told her seriously and then gave her his biggest smile. Hermione smiled back and stood up.

Yami bent to pick up Yugi and settled the elf on his slim hip. Hermione gave Harry a hug and sort of bobbed her head at Ron.

Harry looked at Yami. "Aren't you going to disappear?"

Yami shook his head. "I am your guard for the trip. I spoke with Dumbledore and he believes that I will be a more effective guard if the Death Eaters can see me. If anyone asks you are to tell them that I am an Auror." Yami pronounced the last word slowly, obviously unsure of the meaning.

Harry just nodded. He only hoped that no other Auror's would turn up and refute the claim. Once they were downstairs Harry was relieved to notice that the only Aurors present were with the Order of the Phoenix. Harry smiled at Tonks who gave him a weary smile in return.

Harry felt a little strange. He was the only person with an escort. Admittedly no one else was on Voldemort's most wanted list. However whispers followed them, those who had been in the DA recognised Yami and nodded their greetings, those who had only heard of Yami through those who had been in the DA watched him pass in awe. Probably not expecting someone quite so...short, or dressed in skin tight black leather.

Luna wandered over to them. "Hello Yami." She said airily. Yami nodded to her, his eyes scanning the crowd of students around them. They were standing in a little space of their own, Yami's hair-raising presence keeping people from wanting to get too close.

They all passed out of the Entrance Hall and headed for the train. They had a few moments of comedic relief as Yami passed Filtch and his Sensory Scope. The castle caretaker was obviously aware of exactly what Yami was and apparently wasn't willing to get within six feet of him. The look on Filtch's face as he stumbled over a first year in an attempt to get out of Yami's reach was almost more than Harry could handle.

Harry sunk into his seat on the train, he stretched out his legs and Yugi sat on his feet. Yami settled into the corner where he could see everything. He stretched absently.

Ron looked over at him. "Hey Yami, are you going to get Yugi to use the earth magic on you again?"

Yami's eyes darkened irritably. "No, I will not be there long enough to warrant it."

Ron nodded and he and Neville, who had joined them in the compartment, started to talk about Quidditch. Harry listened in and added his part, soon the atmosphere cheered considerably. Harry glanced at Yami, the Shade had his eyes closed and Harry could almost see the shadowy layer across his skin. Harry smiled at Yugi who was now playing a confusing game of cards with Luna. Yugi looked back at him and smiled, his bright eyes flicking over to Yami. The rest of the trip was pleasant, Yami sat silently in the corner holding his magic in and the rest of them tried not to be too cheery to make it easier for him.

Mrs. Weasley met them at the station. She looked less than pleased about having Yami spend Christmas with them, but she did her best to greet him happily. Harry raised an eyebrow at the Ministry cars and looked at Yami. The Shade had resumed his shadow form and was hovering near Yugi. Thankfully the day was quite dark, so that the Aurors and Ministry drivers would have a harder time spotting the dark shadow.

Once they reached the Burrow Harry and Ron were immediately rounded into helping with dinner. Yami and Yugi rather conveniently disappeared.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Yami stretched out his shadows across the tree branch, out of the soggy snow. Yugi was sitting next to him. "Are you sure you will be alright?" He asked gently.

Yami shrugged and draped a few shadows over Yugi's head, making the elf laugh as he batted them away. "Fine, I'm getting use to crossing the anti-Shade spells now." That was true enough, he had been forced to once again barge through the Hogwarts spells when he and Drwng had arrived back at Hogwarts. It had been easier this time, as though the spells themselves were starting to recognise him and were just letting him through instead. This wouldn't have surprised Yami, the human magic was powered with earth magic which tended to get easier the more you used it.

Yugi tilted his head and looked out into the sunset. "As much as I wanted you to come, you didn't have to. This holiday of theirs is all about happiness."

Yami drew into human form and twisted so that he was sitting on the branch carefully balanced. "You are worried that I will make them unhappy and ruin this for them." He was actually hurt by the suggestion, against his better judgement and will he was actually starting to like his humans, at least Harry, Ron and Hermione, perhaps and even Ginny, Neville and Luna.

The adults still drove him nuts, but the children were alright. Yami sighed, he was holding his fear magic in as best he could, but he would still need to stay away from people as much as he could. There were actually a few more darkings here than when he had been here during the summer, that would keep him occupied. They had probably come because they had heard that a Shade was here. There were currently three darkings lurking at the base of the tree, they were careful about climbing up the tree in case Yugi threw magic at them.

Yami looked down at them and after a quick glance at Yugi, who for some reason was looking rather smug, dribbled a few strands of shadowy magic to them. Yugi looked down at them. "Why do Shades like darkings?" He asked curiously.

Yami blinked. What a strange question. "What do you mean?" He asked. They were both watching the darkings feast on Yami's magic now.

Yugi shrugged. "You treat every other race the same, like you wish they would leave you alone, but you like darkings."

Yami considered that, he hadn't really thought about it. "Darkings help us keep track of things. Every Shade has darkings so we can always find out what is going on in other Shade's territories. They are also company I suppose; they are the only species which will tolerate our presence."

After having spent the last year and a half in the company of humans, and nearly twenty years before that with the elves, Yami really looked forward to the times when he could just sit with only darkings to keep him company. Things were simpler before he had bound to Yugi; torment humans, listen to the darkings, torment humans; fight other Shades, torment humans. Now he had to focus on things which before had meant almost nothing to him. Talk about stepping out of the shadows and into the light.

There was a flash of light as a door opened across the field and Yami heard Harry's voice call out into the shadowy evening. "Yugi dinner." Yugi climbed down the tree carefully, the darkings pulled away from him and then climbed up the tree to say hello to Yami and check him out for any more magic.

Yami remained in the tree thinking normal Shade thoughts until Yugi told him that they were all going to bed now.

Yami debated staying here for the night. His decision was made for him as drips of water began to fall from the sky. Yami made a disgusted noise and dashed for the house. By the time he had made it through the door it was raining in earnest. Yami took human form and shuddered to shake the water out of his shadows. It wasn't exactly rain, but neither was it snow, slush he supposed humans called it. Yami called it annoying.

It would soon be cold enough to snow properly and then Yami would be happier. He turned and went into the kitchen, everyone was asleep so he closed and locked the door. The kitchen was warm and full of shadows, the three darkings had followed him inside and another two were roaming through the kitchen. Yami settled next to the fire to dry off and relax.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Harry looked up from peeling potatoes with Ron to see the twins coming through the kitchen door. They had been at the Burrow for a couple of days now and this was the first time that the twins had been able to take a break from their shop to come and visit. Harry knew that they were staying the night and having Christmas lunch with them the next day. "Howdy Harry." Fred called out. Further conversation was interrupted as shadows invaded the room. Yami swirled himself together. "Hello." He said conversationally.

"Yami!" Both the twins laughed and clapped their Shade friend on the shoulder. Yami grinned at them, shadows marching up and down his arms and curling out to examine the twins.

"My friend we have business to discuss." George draped one arm over Yami's left shoulder and Fred mimicked him on their right. "Product sales have gone through the roof since we, shall we say invested, in your excellent skill set." The twins steered Yami out of the room.

Harry looked at Ron. "Do you think we should be worried?"

Ron gave him a freaked out look. "Definitely."

Dinner that night was an interesting affair. Yami had joined them at the table and had his head together with the twins. Harry had no idea what they were talking about, but whatever it was had Yugi giggling softly.

The atmosphere was surprisingly bright despite the Shade at the table. Harry peered around Lupin who was sitting next to him, on the pretence of grabbing the gravy boat, instead he looked at Yami. There were no shadows running over him, he didn't seem to be the least bit distracted or troubled with holding in his magic. Harry sat back and grinned at Lupin who had noticed where he was looking. Whatever Yami had managed to do was good with him.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Yami could hardly believe how easy holding his latent fear spells in was. It was as though the twin's rather devious plans were making it easier. Focusing Yami's mind on something and almost drawing the spells away from everyone else. Yami listened into the twin's comments on their progress through some of their products.

Some of them, like the 'Portable Shade' were not going to be available any time soon, purely because it would draw attention to them in uncomfortable ways. Yami had to admit that the magic was clever, they had come to him with the idea during the summer, a magic shadow which followed the buyers commands and chased people giving off a cold feeling which was as close to the sensation of real fear which Yami's spells induced as the twins could get. Yami had helped them with the spell, he found that though the idea had offended him a little there could possibly be benefits.

The twins had shown him a prototype that afternoon, to the human eye it looked exactly like the dark twisting shadows of a Shade, however to Yami it looked like nothing but a cloud of magic. There was the possibility that the humans would start to relax their guards once the products were available.

As the night wore on people began to filter into the other room to listen to some truly horrible noise. Yami twisted his head at the sound coming out of a small wooden box, Yugi had a pillow over his head in an attempt to keep the sound from his sensitive ears.

Yami looked around the room. Ron's mother looked delighted, the Veela looked disgusted, everyone else looked bored. Yami supposed this was something that happened a lot. He hovered by the door, feeling for the first time in his long life decidedly uncomfortable. Harry looked up from his seat on the couch and his conversation with the werewolf. He motioned at one of the spare seats. Yami edged towards it and sank down carefully just as the box let out a particularly harsh wail. Yugi cringed and made his way over to Yami's lap, Yami slid shadows around him blocking the elf's ears.

Finally the noise stopped and Ron's father jumped up and began getting people drinks. The man offered Yami a glass of a thick white liquid. Yami shook his head, and the man coughed. "So what do you normally do for Christmas Yami?"

Yami's eyes followed him around the room. "Nothing this is the first Christmas I have ever participated in. I must admit that I do not really understand the idea."

Fred and George looked horrified. "No Christmas, how do you live, Christmas is the best holiday ever."

Yami tilted his head slightly and looked down at Yugi. The elf's eyes were shining with delight, he had enjoyed Christmas last year. Harry had tried to explain the idea to Yami last year when he had been looking for a present for Yugi. "It is a human thing and I have never had a need to understand human things before now." Yami looked around the room.

Ron's mother started. "It's a time of giving, when everyone gets together and celebrates."

Yami was bemused. "That is a very strange idea, why give things to people?"

Ginny chipped in. "You wouldn't understand, you're solitary. Humans like being together, the gifts are a way of saying that you are glad that the others are there."

Yami nodded, even though he didn't truly understand, he glanced down at Yugi, /Should I have gotten you a gift, you are the only one I am grateful for./

Yugi looked delighted and hugged him, /No I get to have you around this time, that is enough./

Yami nodded and glanced at the Veela, she looked disgusted and got to her feet. "We are going to bed." She proclaimed and left the room, followed closely by one of Ron's other brothers, whom Yami had barely met.

Yami tilted an eyebrow at her and repressed the urge to send a fear spell after her. Slowly the humans went to bed until only Yami, Harry, Ron and Yugi were left in the room. Harry turned away from the fire, he had been oddly thoughtful all night. "Come on Yugi time for bed." Yugi lifted his head slightly, the elf was almost asleep on Yami's lap. Harry picked him up. Ron groaned and got to his feet.

Harry glanced down at Yami. "Hey in the morning come up to our room and we'll show you Christmas." The two humans went up the stairs with Yami staring after them in confusion.

The sun was just rising when Yami made his way silently up the stairs to Harry and Ron's room. He walked into the room and looked down at the three sleeping figures, starting slightly as Ron's gave a loud snort in his sleep. Sitting at the ends of the two beds were a pile of objects covered in paper. Yami stepped around the sleeping figures, waking Yugi, to examine the objects. All of them contained a few traces of human magic. Yami glanced up to see Yugi shaking Harry awake. "Presents!" The elf squealed in delight.

Yami settled down cross-legged as the three of them began to remove the coverings on the presents. Yugi laughed over the harmless joke products from the Weasley's and the box of Sugar Quills from Hermione, there was also a jumper made of yellow wool which Yugi pulled on over his pyjamas.

Yami watched the three of them filter through the paper on the floor and the various gifts now scattered around them, before he noticed that one remained unwrapped. "You missed one." He said, pointing out the gift hidden behind a wall of brightly coloured paper.

Harry pulled the sheets aside and picked up the package. He examined it and then gave a slightly choked laugh. "It's for you." Harry held the object out to Yami who just looked at him.

"What?" He eyed it suspiciously.

Ron leant over and looked at it and then looked amazed. "Mum's nuts." He looked up. "It's from my parents."

Yami blinked at him, and then took it very slowly and carefully. The paper crackled under his fingers, but whatever was inside was soft, with only the faintest touch of human magic. Yami pulled the paper away as he had seen the others do. As the paper fell away, landing unnoticed in his lap it revealed a jumper very much like Yugi's. This one was in dark purple wool; Yami looked up utterly bemused. Ron's face was red, he was trying very hard not to laugh. Harry was biting his lip, Yugi was looked at him expectantly.

"What?" Yami asked his eyes on Yugi.

The elf gave a huge sigh. "Put it on." He explained, motioning down himself to demonstrate.

Yami looked at him silently hoping that the elf would think about that statement and reconsider. Yugi blushed slightly. "Please, Mrs Weasley went to a lot of effort to make it for you, you could at least be nice and wear it."

Yami didn't say anything, but looked back at the jumper. There was no way he was going to waste memory space by memorising the item and readjusting his shadows to wear it. Unfortunately that meant wearing it like a human. He narrowed his eyes at Harry who was starting to turn red like Ron. "Go ahead, laugh away human." He grumbled and dragged the rough woollen material over his head and wriggled his arms through the sleeves. By the time he had arranged the jumper around his slim torso Harry and Ron were sitting up from where they had collapsed laughing.

Yami sat back and watched them, smirking. Their amusement was slightly irking, but he had to admit that he found a sort of distorted pleasure at the idea that a human had given him a piece of clothing to attempt to pacify him.

Yugi giggled and then trotted over to his bag. "We have something for you as well."

He pulled out a neatly wrapped box and returned to the mattress. Yami lifted his eyebrow.

"This is from Hermione as well so remember to say thank you when we get back to Hogwarts." Yugi said, then his mind-voice spoke to Yami's mind, /don't be mad, they don't know anything./

Yami frowned slightly at him, trying to poke a little further and find out what Yugi was hiding. The elf gave him a determined look and held out the box. It was very light and the wrapping was spelled with Yugi's magic to prevent whatever was inside from getting out. Yami was intrigued; the elfin magic totally obscured whatever was in the box. Yami removed the wrapping paper and opened the beautifully carved wooden box. A darking zipped out and dashed around Yami's head, then around the room. Yami looked at Yugi who beamed at him. "Merry Christmas." The elf sung.

Harry and Ron were both following the little shadows progress around the room. So Yami addressed Yugi silently. /A darking? There are thousands of darkings at Hogwarts./

Yugi sighed and smiled at him, /You can keep this one, all the time. Back home you were always thinking about how much you missed them, now you don't have to./

Yami blinked at him and held out his hand calling the darking back with a wisp of shadows. It coiled around his fingers, investigating the shadows which made up his physical form. It was a young darking, which was best if you were travelling around a lot. The older darkings tended to want to stay in one place. All the darkings he had sent off following Death Eaters were younger. Having a darking along with him would also mean that he could tap into his spy network from anywhere.

"Thank you." He told Yugi and gave the elf a one armed hug as the darking feasted on the magic in his other hand. It hadn't been very well fed in the box, Yami suspected that Yugi had lured it in with a spark of elfin magic and then closed the box on it.

"What is it?" Harry asked.

Yami looked up, this was going to be a problem. "Nothing you need to concern yourselves with." He told them, he had already told Harry last year that the darkings were a Shade secret. Hopefully he would remember that.

Harry stared at it, but kept his silence. Ron didn't. "Why not?"

Yami growled softly. Ron blinked. "Alright, chill." Yami studied him calmly, at least these humans had been around him long enough now that even if they did question him they knew when to stop.

Yugi got to his feet and stretched. "Breakfast!" He exclaimed with delight and began to get dressed. Yami waited while the three of them hunted through the piles of wrapping and presents to find their clothes. Yami rubbed his hands up his arms, the woollen jumper felt strange against his magic.

It had been years since he had worn clothes, preferring the easier method of simply giving the illusion of clothes. He stood and followed Harry, Ron and Yugi downstairs still rubbing the rough clothing thoughtfully. His new darking was examining the magic around them as he walked, Harry's eyes kept flicking to it, but Ron seemed to have lost sight of it.

It appeared that everyone else was up; people were gathered around the table talking and laughing loudly. Harry went up to Mrs Weasley and hugged her; he then looked around his feet for Yugi.

Typically the little elf had gotten shy the instant he had to thank someone and was hiding his face in the back of Yami's knee. The adult looked at him and actually seemed startled that Yami was wearing the jumper she had knitted.

Yami glanced down at Yugi who had gone bright red and smirked; he nodded his head to Mrs Weasley and then bent and picked up Yugi. "Say thank you." He said and turned his elf so that he was facing everyone in the room. Yami knew that this was the second jumper that the woman had made Yugi and Yugi really did need to get over his shyness.

Yugi put his hands over his face and tried to wriggle out of Yami's grip. Yami smiled and held on. Finally Yugi whispered. "nk q." He looked absolutely horrified. So Yami set him on a chair, his bright red face complementing the yellow wool of his jumper rather nicely. Yami swelled magic under his feet and lifted himself up to sit on the bench behind him.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Harry was amazed. This was the first time Yugi had ever spoken in front of anyone other than his three friends. He guessed that Yami could be a real bully when he put his mind to it. Everyone was absolutely shocked; Harry wasn't surprised, even with the muttered words you could hear the startling and pleasant tones of Yugi voice.

Mrs Weasley didn't seem to know if she should be pleased or surprised, so she went with a mixture of both. "You're welcome dear." Yugi ducked his head, cheeks still flaming. Yami gave a dark chuckle from where he sat. Harry glanced at Yami. The Shade was swinging his feet absently, tapping his heels against the cupboard. Harry sat next to Yugi and patted his shoulder. "Are you hungry?" Yugi looked up warily; probably worried that Harry was going to make him talk to people again.

People had started talking again and Mrs Weasley hurried over and put a heaped plate of food in front of each of them. She skirted uneasily past Yami who was humming thoughtfully to himself. Harry was confused; he had never seen the Shade in such a good mood.

Yugi looked over his shoulder and rolled his eyes before tucking into his breakfast.

Christmas Day was largely spent staying out of Mrs Weasley's way as she got ready for dinner that night. Yami was still wearing the jumper she had made him, and no one had said anything to him. Harry thought he looked strange in his tight leather pants and heeled boots with the fluffy and slightly overlarge jumper.

The night arrived and they were all sitting down to eat. The Weasley's kitchen was packed to exploding point. Yugi had to sit on Harry's lap, forcing Harry to eat around him and off the same plate. Yami walked into the room and looked around. There was literally no space at all around the table.

Yami rubbed his jumper clad arms and then his body started to dissolve back into shadows. Of course the jumper Mrs Weasley had knitted him wasn't made of shadows like his normal clothes and as such the dark wool fell away and his shadows twisted out of it. The jumper landed noiselessly on the floor, but with a snap of her wand Mrs Weasley folded it and sent it into the other room. Yami moved over to hover over Lupin's head, red eyes flashing in the darkness to hold a muttered conversation with the werewolf.

Harry grinned at Ron as his friend reached carefully over to add more gravy to his plate. The faint, muted fear caused by Yami's presence was overthrown by the general good cheer of Christmas. That was until Yami's shadows surged and he partially reformed near the door. "Someone is coming." He said softly, his voice almost a growl.

Mr Weasley was on his feet, wand in hand in an instant. "Who?" He asked. The room had gone quiet. Without realising it everyone was looking to the Shade for warning, all fear of him gone.

Yami's insubstantial head tilted. "I do not know, there are two humans, neither are Death Eaters."

Mr Weasley pulled the curtain aside and his wand lowered, he turned rapidly back to Yami. "I suggest you disappear, it is the Minister for Magic. And Percy." Mr Weasley looked confused.

Mrs Weasley gave a soft cry of surprise and Harry noticed that Lupin had surreptitiously backed out of the room. Yami threw a glance Harry's way and then his form became full shadows again and he left the room.

Harry turned and looked at the door. After a few tense moments where Mrs Weasley got expectedly teary; there was a loud authoritative knock at the door.

Mr Weasley opened it with a snap and Harry got his first close up of the newest Minister for Magic. He was older than Fudge had been, slightly hunched, with a lion's mane of greying hair. "Ah, hello there Arthur, we were just passing through and I thought it would be nice for Percy to have a chance to drop in on his family." The Minister paused and looked at Percy, who looked about as excited about being here as Yami had looked at the idea of putting on Mrs Weasley's jumper that morning.

The Minister smiled and continued. "Of course I had to agree, one should really be around family at Christmas time and Percy has been working very hard."

Mrs Weasley now had her arms around Percy's neck and was sobbing into his shoulder. Scrimgeour looked pleased and then glanced around the room in what he obviously hoped was a polite way. Harry however could tell he was looking for something, as the man's eyes settled on him and Yugi Harry guessed that he was the reason for the unprompted visit.

Harry met Scrimgeour's eyes without hesitation and the Minister smiled. "Well I might just take a turn around the garden while you catch up, Percy. Perhaps this young man can accompany me?" Scrimgeour looked directly at Harry, Yugi shifted on Harry's lap and muttered under his breath. Harry got to his feet quickly and set Yugi back on the chair. Yugi was calling on Yami and Harry really didn't think it was a good idea for the Shade to make an appearance attacking the Minister for Magic. "Sure, fine." He nodded to everyone else and followed the limping Minister out of the door, while everyone else exchanged wary glances.

Harry stepped out into the cold night air and walked beside the silent Minister. Harry wasn't about to start up the conversation, but he had a good idea that Percy wasn't the reason that Scrimgeour was here.

As they walked around the corner of the house Harry caught sight of Yami lurking in the dark shadows under a nearby tree. Harry made a discrete motion for the Shade to stay put. Yami's shadows settled, but Harry could tell that they still had his undivided attention.

"Well Harry, how have you been?" Scrimgeour asked politely as they stopped at the fence.

"Alright sir, thank you." Harry replied.

He looked at the Minister out of the corner of his eye; Scrimgeour was very purposefully not looking at him. "I understand that you have ambitions of becoming an Auror?" Scrimgeour tried.

Harry shrugged noncommittally. "Sure, I've thought about it."

"Naturally naturally. That someone like yourself, who has suffered so greatly at the hands of the greatest Dark wizard of our time would wish to fight that which has hurt you. Of course, you are not the only one who needs to see him destroyed."

Harry kept his eyes very firmly averted, in doing so he noticed that Yami had edged closer, within listening distance. "I'm not sure what you mean." He had his suspicions though.

"There are rumours Harry, rumours that you are the Chosen One, the one who will destroy He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named once and for all. People look to you for hope. The fact that you have an elf, and that the elves may fight for you has helped as well. People realise that they are a very powerful and influential race. However people also look to the Ministry to fight the Death Eaters, and we have the resources, the man-power to help you Harry." Scrimgeour turned to look at Harry, but Harry remained silent and didn't meet his eye, focusing instead on the twisting and folding shadows in the distance.

The Minister turned to peer into the shadows, trying to see what Harry was looking at. Harry finally turned. It wouldn't do for Scrimgeour to get too curious about those shadows. "Was there something you wanted Minister?" Harry asked stiffly.

Scrimgeour smiled down at Harry. "Well, for the good of the people of course, it would perhaps be beneficial for you to be seen coming in and out of the Ministry once in a while. You could meet up with the Head Auror to discuss a future career and it would give people the comfort and security that things were getting done."

Harry looked at him coldly, he had expected something like this, but even so it made him angry. "So basically you want it to look like I am working for you."

Scrimgeour smiled in relief. "Working together, but yes the idea is the same."

Harry growled. "Forget it Minister. The Ministry and I don't get on, and I have no intention of tricking people into a false sense of security just to make you look good." Harry's hands had bunched into fists and he could feel the earth magic just within in reach. Yami edged closer.

Scrimgeour frowned at him. "I can understand why you would feel that way Harry of course." It was at that moment that the Minister made one of the biggest mistakes of his life. He reached out a hand and went to set it on Harry's shoulder. Harry was tensed and ready, and wouldn't have reacted, but he did have a very territorial Shade protecting him. Apparently Yami took Scrimgeour's motion as a threat because he reacted immediately.

As Scrimgeour's hand fell to Harry's shoulder Yami surrounded them both. Harry was protected from the Shade's icy fear magic by Yugi's warm protective spells, Scrimgeour wasn't that lucky. He got hit with the full force of Yami's defensive attack.

Harry had no idea what to do, he was pretty sure that it would be a bad thing for Yami to kill the Minister, but human magic wouldn't work. Harry thunked himself on his head with his hand and grabbed the earth magic. Trapping the angry Shade took a great deal more effort than Harry had hoped, but finally he managed to pull Yami back and force him to wrap his shadows around Harry. Much like he had seen Yugi do in Dumbledore's office.

The surge of magic made his knees go weak and he staggered, only just managing to hold the magic together and prevent Yami from escaping. There were several loud bangs and Harry turned his head to see everyone running from inside. "Don't do anything." Harry hissed to Yami, hoping that his grip on the earth magic would hold out a little longer. Yugi wriggled out from between Ginny and Ron and made a gentle motion with one hand. Harry felt the strain lessen and Yami's shadows congealed into human form.

Everyone turned to look at Scrimgeour who was getting to his feet, barely able to control his terror. Yami hissed, but didn't move. He was still held in place by Yugi and Harry's combined effort, his scarlet eyes however fixed on the Minister. "If you touch him again, I will destroy you human." Yami's deep voice was pitched low, but could be heard easily by everyone present. Scrimgeour staggered to his feet and pulled out his wand, pointing it at Yami's slender chest.

Yami didn't even blink; he kept his bloody eyes focused on Scrimgeour, waiting for any sign of a threat.

Scrimgeour turned his head slightly, still trying to keep Yami in view. Harry could see that the man was shaking almost uncontrollably. "Percy, contact the Ministry and have someone come and examine the anti-Shade spells here, it seems we have an issue."

Yami's eyes narrowed and Harry could see the illusionary muscles in his shoulders flex, he was ready to attack again. Harry stepped forward as a very pale Percy pulled out his wand. Everyone was talking at once, trying to stop him. Yugi met Harry's eyes and ran lightly across the distance between them and tugged on Yami's hand. Harry turned his attention to Scrimgeour; Yugi would take care of Yami. "Minister, the anti-Shade spells work, we let him in."

Everyone went silent and turned to look at him. Yami gave a low growl, but Harry could see that his arms were now occupied with holding Yugi. Harry glared at Scrimgeour. "Go away; I won't work for you trying to trick people into security. People need to know that they are in danger and that the Ministry is doing nothing to help them. They need to help themselves."

Scrimgeour's eyes flashing in anger, Yami shifted behind Harry straining at the earth magic. "Well Harry, I'm sorry to hear you say that, but this is certainly a new development. Come on Weasley."

Percy gave his family a very cold look which didn't quite come off through the shuddering terror, and followed the Minister without looking back.

Harry realised that he was still holding the earth magic and as the loud cracks of apparition rung through the night he released it and nearly fell over.

That had been harder than he thought.

Yugi made a worried noise. Harry's vision was going blurry, but once again Yami was as clear as day as the Shade stepped forwards and steadied Harry with one hand. "You need to rest. I am sorry that my actions harmed you." The Shade's deep voice was soft, but this time Harry was sure that he was the only one who could hear him.

Harry's tired mind managed to be shocked that Yami was apologising for anything. There were people talking around him, but Harry's mind couldn't comprehend what they were saying, he was so tired...

* * *

_Well we have a revelation, what will the Minister do now that he knows that Harry Potter has a Shade as well as an elf?_


	17. Revelations

Chapter 17: Revelations

Yami turned his head as Harry muttered in his sleep. The human was only settling so Yami relaxed. Yugi had finally been convinced to go downstairs and get something to eat. However he had only agreed after Yami had promised to watch the young human.

The little elf was very worried about Harry. The human wasn't used to using so much earth magic at once. Yami stretched out his legs and began twisting a strand of shadows around his fingers. Harry muttered something in his sleep, Yami ignored him. At least until the human spoke up. "Yami, hey, what's going on?" Harry was trying to sit up.

Yami rose and pushed him back down onto the bed; the human didn't put up much resistance. "You used too much earth magic, more than you are used to."

Harry blinked. "How long have I been asleep?"

Yami shrugged. "A few hours, it is nearly morning."

"You shouldn't have attacked Scrimgeour." Harry said, closing his eyes.

"Perhaps." Yami replied, but Harry was already asleep again.

Yami sighed and settled back in his chair. His darking trickled over and coiled around his neck and began chattering in his ear. Yami listened in intently, the darkings had found very little since Yami had last been able to contact them. He had been able to learn that Drwng had moved into the mountains to convince the other giants to fight against Voldemort. This had as far as Yami knew, had only limited success. The darkings weren't willing to get too close the giant mage so his information was limited.

One of the darkings had found something new now. Voldemort had been furious to learn that Yami had stolen his giant mage right out from under him. So he was hunting for other ways to fight the shadows of a Shade.

Yami sat up a little straighter, Voldemort was using those contacts he had at the Ministry to try and investigate that Veil of Shadows. Yami hissed a curse softly and the darking stopped and spun around in confusion. Yami petted it gently as he thought. Yugi prodded his mind, /is it Harry, is something wrong!/ Yami quickly appeased the elf before he got hysterical.

Yami didn't know if the non-human could access the magic in the Veil, but he knew that if he did it would be a disaster. However telling the other humans about it would reveal the Veil and they would possibly attempt to use it against him or his kin. The darking chattered at him so Yami threw it a twist of magic to keep it occupied while he thought.

The darkings had also reported that Voldemort was searching through his Death Eaters for the traitor who was passing on information to the Order. Yami was fairly certain that he wouldn't detect the darkings, but it was putting pressure on Dumbledore's spies within the Death Eaters ranks and Yami knew that Yugi wouldn't be happy if Yami's spying resulted in human deaths.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Harry dragged himself out of sleep for the second time. He felt considerably better than the last time he had regained consciousness and it was lighter in the room. Harry turned his head and sat up.

At least this time his head wasn't spinning quite so drastically, and he was really, really hungry. There was a faint movement and Harry turned to see Yami sitting up from his slouch in the chair. Harry licked his lips to try and get enough moisture into his mouth so that he could speak. "Hey..." He croaked. Yami smirked and handed him a glass of water. Harry took a couple of big mouthfuls and tried again. "Hey, how much longer did I sleep?" Harry really didn't want it to have been a long time, he hated being asleep for long periods of time, like three days.

Yami shrugged. "A few more hours, if you are up to it everyone is eating downstairs, Yugi is very eager to see you again."

Harry nodded and hoisted himself out of bed. Yami waited patiently as Harry struggled into his clothes. As Harry was dragging his jumper on he thought; most humans would have been trying to help him dress, Yami just sat back and waited as though he didn't care if Harry took a few moments or a few years. He guessed that came from being over five thousand years old, a serious dose of patience. Harry followed Yami downstairs and as soon as his foot hit the floor Yugi was hugging his leg. His huge eyes were wide with concern. Harry sat down and allowed the tiny elf to climb into his lap.

Harry doubted he had enough strength to pick even Yugi's feather weight up. It had taken a decent bit of his wan strength just stumbling down the stairs.

Mrs Weasley set a plate down in front of him, just as there was a tap on the window. Mr Weasley turned and went over to the window, letting in the post owl. Harry paid it no attention, busy as he was stuffing his face. The comfortable silence was interrupted by Mr Weasley. "Oh dear." At his worried voice Harry looked up, it couldn't be something disastrous; surely Mr Weasley's response would be more drastic if it were.

Mr Weasley coughed and looked uncomfortable, but read aloud from the front page.

"Last night the Minister for Magic, Rufus Scrimgeour and Junior Undersecretary Percy Weasley visited Mr Weasley's home for Christmas. Upon arrival the Minister fell into conversation with none other than Harry Potter, rumoured to be the Chosen One. During this innocent conversation in which Mr Potter conveyed a great deal of interest into working for the Ministry as an Auror after his has finished his schooling..."

Harry gave a half-hearted snort of disbelief, he could see where this was going and it wasn't going to be good.

"...the Minister was attacked by a Shade. Minister Scrimgeour commented, "People have imagined Shades as vicious creatures with no regard for anyone but themselves. Last night proved that they are beyond that, they are beasts which will happily drain a human of everything that they are for no reason other than we exist."

Harry looked at Yami, the Shade's eyes were narrow and his lips were twisted into a snarl. "Continue." His voice was flat with fury.

Mr Weasley cleared his throat and went on.

"The Minister and Mr Weasley claimed that Harry Potter had some measure of control over the creature, something which has sent shockwaves through the wizarding population. Dolores Umbridge, current Senior-Undersecretary to the Minister claimed that she was also attacked by a Shade last year during her very successful time as teacher of the Defence Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts. She claimed that Albus Dumbledore, Hogwarts Headmaster threatened her to keep the Shades presence in the school a secret.  
Now she has said that she is not afraid to come out and speak with the Minister on her side. This writer wonders how much more Mr Potter will be able to get away with, already caring for an elf and now putting the other students at risk by exposing them to the most dangerous magical creature there has ever been. The Ministry is calling for the Shade to be turned over to them for study..."

Mr Weasley stopped and looked at Yami. "It then goes on to talk about how they intend to 'neutralise' you and ensure that you are not a danger to anyone. Also how they are hoping that you will provide them with the knowledge they need to destroy all the Shades once and for all."

There was dead silence in the kitchen, Yugi looked horrified and disgusted. Harry shivered as Yami's shadows twirled around them sending cold down his spine. He was still sitting in human form on the bench, but it was as though his shadows had expanded beyond what the small physical form could hold. Harry could see that it was taking all of Yami's will-power to not go off in a blaze of fury.

Ron shook his head. "They're mental if they think they can just walk in and capture you"' He said with a look at Yami.

Yami sneered. "Humans have never been well known for thinking ahead." He glanced down at Yugi, who nodded sombrely. Yami's solid form dissolved and he flowed out of the room in a furious ripple of shadows.

Harry looked down at Yugi. "What is he going to do?"

Yugi gave him a mysterious if worried smile.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Yami traced the anti-Shade spells around the Burrow, he wove his magic into thick ropes of power, there was no earth magic in these weavings they were pure Shade magic, powered with Yami's fury at the audacity of the humans. He would show them exactly the kind of dangerous beast he was. He would teach them not to underestimate the power a Shade wielded. Let them come, he would destroy them.

The first circle of the spells laid down the detection spells, the second the emotional magic, the third the sticky layer of magic, faint and delicate which would draw darkings, those spells were irresistible for the little shadows once activated and they reached for miles. Let's see how the humans worked when living in constant terror with every spell they cast consumed by a wave of Shade-like creatures.

Yami poured all of his anger into the spells, fuelling them with enough energy to last for weeks. The only thing Yugi insisted on was a way that those people who worked with them would not be affected. Fortunately that took nothing more than a twist on the spells, because in the mood Yami was in there wasn't much delicate work he could do.

Finally Yami dropped to the ground and dragged his shadows under a nearby tree. Harry and Ron were sitting there talking about the article. Yami was now too tired to care; it was a good tired though, not the utter exhaustion of being hit with Avada Kedavra, just a single good work out. Harry's eyes turned to him and Ron twisted to see what his friend was looking at.

"What's up? Yugi won't tell us what you were doing." Harry asked glanced up the tree trunk to see Yugi in the process of climbing down.

Yami sent his appreciation, he wasn't sure if he could make it up the tree to his elf. None the less he became aware of the slow inflow of energy from Yugi's bright soul.

"Yami?" Harry asked. Yami turned his attention back to the young human.

"I have placed some spells around this place, any human who is not with the Order will regret attempting to cross them." Yami didn't pull himself into human form, it would be a waste of energy; instead he moved into the wan sunlight so that his shadows became more obvious. Harry raised an eyebrow. "What will the spells do?"

Yami chuckled and both humans shuddered. Maniacal laughter coming from an indistinct object was unnerving.

Yugi shook his head. "This is going to cause problems at Hogwarts as well."

Harry nodded and Yami formed himself a pair of eyes and rolled them, it wouldn't be too bad for him, everyone would be frightened. Harry looked at him. "I didn't tell Scrimgeour your name, so hopefully people won't associate Yami the Spirit of Hogwarts with a Shade."

Yugi didn't look convinced. "I don't think it will take people long to realise and then they are going to be angry that you have been lying to them for over a year."

Ron nodded. "You didn't grow up a wizard Harry, people are really scared of Shades, you always got warned about walking in places where there were no spells to protect you. They were the ultimate fright story to get kids to behave. Mom has some really spine-tingling stories she used to tell Fred and George to get them to behave."

Yami looked with interest at Ron, to think that the humans had been propagating their fear of his race. Yami lifted his shadows off the ground as the snow beneath him began to melt and get wet. He shuddered the first few drops out of his shadows and moved up the tree where it was drier. "So when do you return to Hogwarts?" He asked the two humans below.

Harry wriggled around to avoid the snow that Yami dislodged off the branches as he moved. "A week, when do you think the Ministry will come and try to 'neutralise' you?"

Yami pushed a branch sending a cascade of snow onto the three people below him, laughing as they yelped. "I woud give them a day; they will come during the day, hoping it will give them a better chance of spotting me."

Ron stood up and brushed snow off of him. "What do we do?" He rubbed his gloved hands together and Yami sensed him fumble for the earth magic.

"You do nothing, I will do everything. They need to cross the boundary for my spells to activate, after that the fun will begin."

At that moment the thick clouds overhead began to leak snow. The two humans hurried inside, Yugi climbed the tree and hid under one of the thick branches. "Yami be careful, do not hurt anyone too seriously."

Yami wrapped around him and gave the elf a hug. "Of course." He picked Yugi up and carried him into the house.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Harry looked out of the window, two days had passed and there had been no sign of anyone from the Ministry. They had received a message from Dumbledore yesterday to say that the Ministry were waiting for the snow to clear before tackling Yami. Harry thought that this was the first sensible thing that the Ministry had done in a while.

The snow had cleared that morning and the sun was now shining down brightly. As a result the lawn around the Burrow was heavy with slush. Harry hadn't thought that would stop anyone, until Yugi had informed them that morning, as Yami sulked in the attic with the ghoul, that Yami hated to get wet.

Harry's ears caught the familiar loud crack of apparition and he leant out of the window, his fingers closed around his wand. The Minister led the way and he was followed by thirty wizards and witches all with their wands out and ready. Something tugged on Harry's jeans and he picked Yugi up without looking. Harry wondered what he was going to do, lean out the window and say, 'Sorry, but Shade's don't like to get wet, can you come back in a few days when everything has dried out a little.' Yeah that would work.

"Is he still upstairs?" Harry asked Yugi. The elf nodded and smiled. Harry didn't turn around as people came into the room behind him. The Ministry people were spreading out, looking this way and that to try and spot Yami. "Can you tell him to make an effort and make them go away before they hurt anyone?" Harry tried.

Yugi nodded and looked upwards. Ron leant over his shoulder as Mrs Weasley stepped outside. Harry tried not to smile as Ron looked worried, he was pretty sure that Mrs Weasley could be just as scary as Yami when she put her mind to it. "May I ask what you are doing?" Mrs Weasley stood with her arms crossed her wand in one hand.

Scrimgeour stepped forwards carefully. As he spoke Yugi turned his attention to them and leaned out of the window to watch. "Now Molly, please be reasonable, Shades are very dangerous, surely you know this."

"Of course I know, but he is a guest in my house and until that changes you will leave my home immediately." Mrs Weasley straightened to her full height, which wasn't all that considerable, until Yami appeared in a disgusted swirl of shadows next to her. Mrs Weasley towered over the slender Shade.

Yami threw a grossed out look at his booted feet, buried up to his ankles in soggy snow. He turned his flashing scarlet eyes back to the Ministry people who were all lifting their wands and trying their best not to be afraid. Harry hid a smile in Yugi's hair because he knew that Yami was holding in his fear spells. He could tell because Mrs Weasley didn't look the least bit afraid and she was standing closer to him.

Yami turned to her and said in his deep calm voice. "Go back inside; I will take care of them." Mrs Weasley looked doubtful, but wasn't used to Yami enough to go against him. Once inside she joined Harry and Ron at the window. Yami shifted his weight in the slush and grimaced as water splashed up his legs. Shadows were now flitting over his skin, reaching out towards the humans in front of him before folding back and vanishing into his skin again.

An Auror flicked his wand, Yami allowed the spell light to flash right into his face before twisting a shadow up to catch it. The first spell was a cue all the Aurors began to try their hands. Harry was watching Yami's face, the Shade seemed to be waiting for something. He stood with his arms folded his eyes scanning the horizon, shadows rolling around him, catching spells.

It seemed like an eternity before the flashing lights of spells stopped. The Aurors had paused and they seemed to be considering a new line of attack. Harry leant down to whisper in Yugi's ear. "Yami's not using his fear spells?"

Yugi shook his head, his face intense as he watched.

Yami's face changed to a smirk and he looked at the Aurors. "My turn now." He pointed at them.

In most people this would have been over-dramatic and ineffective. As Yami pointed shadows exploded from his fingertips, a whip of magic cracked across the distance between him and the humans and smacked each of them across the face. As the first wave of shadows appeared a second attacked them from behind.

It took Harry a moment to realise that the first wave of shadows had been emotive magic, the Aurors were now either staggering in fear or lashing out at each other in anger. However it was the second wave which confused Harry. To his earth magic altered vision the wave of shadows seemed to be made up of lots of little shadows, almost like miniature Shades. They dashed over the Aurors and Minister's skin and then vanished beneath their clothes.

There were several minutes of chaos before one of the Aurors tried something. "Avada Kedavra!" He screamed, wand pointed at Yami. Harry caught his breath; Yami had told them that the Killing Curse could hurt him, though it didn't kill him. Yami however didn't even flinch.

Almost in slow motion Harry watched as the sickly green glow began to gather at the end of the Aurors wand, but as quickly as it appeared it was swallowed by shadows. There was an impotent flash and the spell failed. It was the final straw. The spell which was unstoppable had been stopped. The Aurors fled.

Yami turned and walked back into the house, one hand clenched around a ball of shadows which seemed to be trying to escape him.

Ron laughed and ducked back. "That was excellent!" He told Yami. Yami was shaking his feet trying to get the water off of his shadows.

Mrs Weasley looked a little worried. "Will they be alright?"

Yami glared at her. "The spells will last for a few weeks, perhaps then they will learn to leave me alone." His physical form dissolved and Yami pushed his way out of the room. Harry grinned down at Yugi who smiled and rolled his eyes. "He really does hate getting wet doesn't he?"

Yugi giggled and smiled comfortingly at everyone.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Yami carried his overeager darking back up to the attic. The ghoul who lived there left him alone after its first bit of curiosity had gotten it flipped upside down and shaken.

He had spent so long without darkings of his own that he had forgotten that the sticky calling spells worked on all darkings. Yami settled down, but didn't release the darking, it was about time he bound this one to him anyway.

Binding a darking was very easy, it was simply a matter of teaching the darking the taste of your magic and during the process of stuffing it full to the brim with Shade magic repeating over and over again; stay with me, stay with me. The darkings could still leave if they wanted to, but it encouraged them to stay with a particular Shade and prevented them from getting confused and going off with the wrong Shade at the end of a fight.

Yami settled back in the dim light of the attic, his darking dribbled sleepily around until it found somewhere comfortable to settle. Yami felt better now that some of the humans had activated his spells, he would have to go out later and lay down an activator spell as well; something he hadn't realised he had missed until nothing had happened when the humans crossed the line.

Still the momentary pause before everything hit them had been funny. It would be interesting to see if any of the wizards came back and tried again. Or even better if they tried to come to Hogwarts, where Yami had more manoeuvrability.

The humans were moving around below, but Yami's mind faded back into satisfied rest.


	18. Issues

Chapter 18: Issues

Harry sat on the lid of his trunk and bent over to wrestle with the latch. He was sure his clothes were breeding, because they never seemed to go back into what he was certain they had come out of. Suddenly the trunk lid crunched shut and Harry felt a cool weight at his back. Harry closed the latch and turned to Yami. "Thanks."

The Shade slid off the lid and dusted a few stray shadows off his leather pants. "I will not be travelling on the train to Hogwarts."

Harry nodded slowly, he had been wondering how things were going to work now that people knew that Harry had a Shade following him around. The Ministry had sent only one more batch of Aurors after the first lot, and Yami had done nothing more than appear at the door and tell them calmly to get lost. Then the shadows had started eating their magic again. Harry had no idea how Yami had managed it, but he thought it would be a great trick to play on the Death Eaters.

"Are you still going to come back to Hogwarts?" Harry asked him as Yami helped him carry his trunk down stairs.

Yami nodded, "I have some things I need to do first. Yugi will call me if you need me." They set the trunk next to the front door with Ron and Ginny's. Harry nodded and wondered what Yami had to do, he knew better than to ask.

Harry was dreading the ride back to Hogwarts and wished that there was another way for them to travel. Ron stumbled down the stairs carrying Yugi. Yami took Yugi and the two of them started to talk softly. Mrs Weasley hurried in from the kitchen. "Change of plans, you are going by Floo Powder back to school." She was carrying the flowerpot which the Weasley's used to store their Floo Powder.

Ron looked surprised, "Why?"

She huffed and waved her wand, lifting the trunks into the air. "Dumbledore thought it was best until this thing with Yami settles down. People are going to be very scared and he doesn't want to make it worse."

Yami tapped Harry on the arm and gave Yugi to him. Yugi waved goodbye to Yami sadly.

Yami met Harry's eyes and Harry knew it was the ever present warning to keep Yugi safe. This time however there was something else in Yami's cold red eyes. As Harry nodded sombrely at him and as Yami's shadows whirled and vanished out the door, he wondered what it was.

Harry shook off the feeling and looked down at Yugi, "Ready?" He asked. Yugi shook his head, closed his eyes and hid his face in Harry's chest. Then he nodded. Harry took a pinch of the sparkling green powder and threw it into the fire. "Hogwarts." He said loudly and clearly, the last thing he wanted to do was to miss the right fireplace.

The fire whooshed up and they were spinning. Harry watched as fireplaces flashed past him, trying to keep his arms as tucked up as he could and protect Yugi from some of the harsher bumps at the same time. Moments later he was thrown onto the hearth in Professor McGonagall's office. The Head of Gryffindor was sitting at her desk and she looked up as Harry stumbled out of the fireplace and started to brush Yugi off. "Welcome back Potter, Yugi. Please step out of the way so the others don't fall over you."

Harry hurriedly stepped away from the fireplace in time for Ron to stagger out of the green flames. McGonagall looked at the three of them over her glasses. "How is Yami getting back?"

Harry coughed up a lungful of dust before replying. "He's...walking...sort of." Harry wasn't sure how you explained Yami's method of travel other than horrifying. "He'll probably be a week or so." A total guess, but Yugi nodded, so apparently it was a good guess.

McGonagall nodded sombrely, "Good it has taken a lot of effort on Professor Dumbledore's behalf to prevent the Ministry from shutting down Hogwarts in an effort to find and capture him. People are going to be very frightened."

Harry shifted. "That's not going to help. The more frightened people are the stronger Yami will get."

Ron nodded, "Beside's he'd been here for more than a year and no one has noticed, what difference does it make if he is here now?" Yugi gave Ron a huge smile and Harry grinned at his friend too.

McGonagall shrugged. "Because now people know, try not to spread panic and Yugi would you please ask Yami to go and see Professor Dumbledore when he arrives." Yugi nodded and as Ginny burst from the fireplace the four of the left the room.

They were earlier than the Hogwarts Express so the only people in the castle were those who had stayed over the holidays, such as Hermione. She met them at the portrait hole with the password. She smiled at Ginny and obediently took Yugi from Harry for a hug. "You should be ready, people have been asking me about Yami ever since the story came out in the Daily Prophet. I've been avoiding them so far, but you're not going to be able to get away with it." Apparently even disaster involving revelations of dangerous shadow creatures in the school weren't enough to get Hermione to talk to Ron again.

Lavender wasn't back yet, so Harry wondered how she would react to Ron having not told her about Yami.

Hermione was right as always, everyone in the common room was looking at him with terror. They found seats away from everyone.

Harry groaned. "This is going to be a nightmare." The others nodded. Harry wished Yami would hurry up; then they would be able to show everyone that he wouldn't hurt them. The only flaw in that plan was that Harry didn't think that Yami would see this that way.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Yami moved away from the Burrow and headed for Hogwarts, three darkings accompanied him, two of them had just latched on and would probably leave in a few minutes, the third his own darking. He wove through the anti-Shade spells around a variety of human homes before he paused.

The last time he had passed through the spells on Hogwarts it had been easier. The next home Yami came to he passed through the spells, or tried. The spells wrapped around him and tore at his shadows to keep him out. Yami backed up very quickly and shuddered, the three darkings had passed through without effect as usual, but his darking backtracked. Yami examined the spell through two layers of vision filters.

This really made no sense, the spells on Hogwarts which were exceptionally powerful, fuelled by earth magic, but he could pass with relative ease. However these spells made of nothing but human magic, weak pathetic human magic stopped him in his tracks. Surely there had to be a way around this.

Yami shook himself and turned to go around the spells. Hhe had more important things to do, but it was something he was going to work on. Perhaps Hermione would be able to help. The darkings had informed him that there were lots of Shade territories around here through the non-magical human city. They almost linked with the anti-Shade spells of the human parts of the place. They created a patchwork of territories, which Yami knew would be difficult to cross. It was odd that the path to Harry's home was clear of any of these barriers. Yami wondered how that had happened.

He moved off again, weaving around anti-Shade spells and the three Shade territories. He added the territories to his mind, marking in the age of each of the Shades; two younger and one blood-eye. Yugi giggled to him mentally so Yami sent a query. It took Yugi a moment to muster the strength to speak to him over such a distance, /Three is a lot?/

/Yes?/

/Humans would think that three is tiny./

Yami twitched his shrug, /Seeing as there are only about thirty Shades on the whole island, three is a lot./

Yugi agreed. /People are not happy here, please come quickly./ Yami stretched out and sped up.

Once he reached the less populated country-side the anti-Shade spells dropped in number, while the Shade territories increase in both number and size. Yami took care to trace each one carefully. Each time he approached a territory the Shade followed him from inside the borders. Yami ignored each of them.

Some of the younger ones attempted to attack him. Yami just dodged the attacks. The two older Shades watched him without attempting anything, though each of them sent darkings out to him. Yami didn't react to them, the darkings would taste the strange mixture of human and elfin magic which clung to him and report it back. Neither of his kin said anything, something that Yami was glad of.

Yami was nearly at Hogwarts approaching from the side which didn't front onto elfin populated forest which he had already explored. He had been plotting out Shade territories for several days now and a rest at the school would actually be welcome.

To Yami's surprise another territory ran along to his left, it was new, as there hadn't been any territories near to the school when Yami first arrived. Yami started to circle it. It didn't contain many humans at all, but there was something familiar about the Shade.

Yami waited, he could sense the other Shade coming, slowly, and he was young. It took Yami a few moments to remember, he wasn't used to remembering other's of his race. It was the Shade-child whose territory Yami had landed in last year, when he had been hunting the Death Eaters who had attacked Yugi's village.

The other Shade approached his border warily, apparently he remembered Yami as well. Yami considered everything as the young Shade watched him from the other side of his border. The younger had already experienced Yami's strength and apparently he was unwilling to take the chance on fighting him. The two Shades watched each other, the only thing stopping Yami from attacking this Shade was that he knew it wouldn't be a fun fight; he was easily more powerful than his younger kin.

Yami turned and made his way towards Hogwarts. Despite his troubles with the human based anti-Shade spells in the city, Yami passed through the spells around Hogwarts without effort. In fact as he passed over the line, which recently had seared him with magic, the spells split and allowed him through with only the most minimal resistance. Yami stopped on the other side and looked back at the spells with interest. They had closed behind him. Yami shook his head; earth magic confused the hell out of him.

Yugi giggled over their bond and Yami turned to go and find him.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Harry thumped his head on the bench twice and then sat up. Hermione gave him the same haughty look she spared for him when he was using the Half-Blooded Prince's book. Yugi had stuck around for this potions class, without Yami to stay with he was apparently loathe to go off on his own.

Harry's day was going slowly from awful to worse. People were still avoiding him, despite Hermione's warnings no one had approached him to ask about the Shade. Instead people ran when they saw him coming, or burst into tears and hurried past as fast as they could if they had no other option. Now according to Yugi, Yami would actually be arriving today. Like that would make things better. To cap it all off, he had spilt his potion on the table and it was eating its way through the wood.

Harry sighed and pulled out his wand and began to trying to clean it up. Yugi squeaked in surprise as the potion dripped into his hair. Harry froze as the elf reached up to wipe it out. "NO!" He yelled and grabbed Yugi by the arm, lifting him off the floor. Everyone looked over at him. Yugi looked frightened. "Don't touch it, just give me a minute." Harry told him.

Yugi's eyes fell on the slowly disintegrating table; they started to fill with tears. Slughorn was making his way across the room.

Harry pointed his wand at Yugi's head as the elf started to cry. Some of the girls in the class glared at him, Harry tried to siphon the thick globby liquid off Yugi's head which was now causing the ends of his hair to smoke faintly. Slughorn came up to him, wand in hand. "Is everything alright?" He asked and lifted his wand to help.

Shadows exploded two feet away and Yami's slim figure slammed into Slughorn full force. "Do not touch him." Yami snarled, his red eyes flashing. Slughorn staggered and fell over, his face deathly pale. People began to scream. Yami ignored them and turned to glare at Harry. "What have you done to him?" He snapped. Yugi was sobbing quietly. Harry felt the cold rush of Yami's fear spells wash over him and attach to the others in the room.

Harry glared at the Shade and people gasped in horrified amazement, "Look just let me get this off alright." One final jab with his wand and the last of the potion disappeared, leaving the violet ends of Yugi's hair smoking.

Harry glanced around the classroom, people were clumped together as far from Yami as they could. Slughorn had staggered to his feet and was shaking. Harry looked back at Yami; this wasn't exactly the introduction he had planned. "Nice to see you, now get out." Harry deliberately kept his voice cold, mimicking Yami's tones. The Shade lifted an eyebrow in query, his eyes curious. Harry hoped desperately Yami would follow his lead on a plan Harry was making up as he went along.

"Huh." Yami's deep voice held a perfect note of distaste. Harry barely managed to stop himself from breathing a sigh of relief. Yami had got the hint.

The Shade turned on the spot and as he did he picked up Yugi and vanished to most human eyes in a swirl of shadows. Harry however watched until he left the room completely.

Everyone was staring at him in awe. Harry sat back down at his cauldron and continued with his potion, following the Prince's instructions. He decided that it was probably best to play this down. People were going to be scared no matter what, but if Harry could talk Yami into following Harry's instructions when he was in public then perhaps he could allay some fears. Although it could possibly make things worse, if he completely controlled a Shade then people might be frightened about coming near him in case he set Yami on them.

Harry looked over at Hermione she was focussing on her potion again, obviously trying to show that she wasn't worried, but Harry could almost see her mind working.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Yami waited outside the classroom. Harry's tone when he had spoken had been angry, but there had only been worry and desperation coming off the human. Yami knew a plan when he saw one, so he left.

Now he was waiting, Harry needed a good excuse for speaking to Yami like that and for hurting Yugi. Yami had no idea what Harry had spilt on their elf's head, but Yugi was still running his fingers through his hair in worry.

The door to the classroom opened and some of the human children peered out.

Yami was in an alcove in shadow form so none of them could see him. They all made a run for it. Harry and Hermione came out last, Harry glanced around and Yami moved out to meet him, pulling Yugi out from behind the statue. "I assume that was all for something." Yami said, gathering his shadows into human form. Hermione smiled a greeting and Yami nodded back to her, he had very carefully avoided letting his fear spells hit her when he had lunged for the adult human who had been about to spell Yugi. Harry nodded, "Sorry, but I think we need to be careful about how people see you."

Yami led them into a nearby empty classroom where they could talk in private. Yugi ignored them all; he was still examining his hair, though he did take the time to climb onto Yami's lap.

"What do you intend then?" Yami asked. He had an inkling of what Harry was intending.

Harry shifted a little uncomfortably. "Could we continue on with the charade that you...obey me?"

Yami tilted his head and twisted his fingers to catch his darking before Harry noticed it. "What purpose would that serve?"

"Well people might be a little less worried about you if they saw me..." Harry winced, "commanding you not to hurt them."

Hermione shook her head an interrupted, "That will just worry the Ministry even more. If you actually seem to control a Shade then they will think that you will use him to take over."

Yami nodded, "I think Hermione is right, but either way I do not think that any of the humans will ever be happy about me being here."

Harry nodded, "What do we do then?"

Yami shrugged, "Go on as normal, I will make a little more effort to stay hidden. I will not appear in the common room anymore as undoubtedly people are now aware that I was not as I claimed to be."

Yami rose to his feet, ready to leave when he thought of something. "I have a map of the area for you. It will show you all the Shade territories in the area between Hogwarts and the Burrow." He pulled the parchment out of the shadows he had been carrying it in. He had drawn it when he arrived, before he had come looking for Harry and Yugi. He handed the parchment over to Harry.

The human looked confused, "Why do I need this?" He asked.

Yami dissolved into his shadow form, "If you know where the Shade territories are then you can avoid them, I cannot help you if you stray there. Keep that safe." He left the room, leaving the two confused humans and a slightly worried elf behind.

Yami wandered around the school, he knew that something would be happening, so firstly he went to the common room. Harry and Hermione were just arriving. As Harry pulled the portrait open Yami winked and passed through.

The emotions in the room hit him first. Anger. Yami slid unnoticed into his corner to watch things unfold; carefully checking his grip on the emotive spells in his extremities to ensure that they weren't affecting anyone.

Standing in the centre of the room were Ron and the female that he had been kissing before they had left the school. They were yelling at each other. Typically Yugi made a move to stop them, but Harry caught him by the hand and lifted him off his feet. Some people in the room found it funny, some people were also angry; Hermione on the other hand seemed excited.

Yami turned his attention to what the two were arguing about.

"Look he's been here for ages I don't know what you're all worried about, he won't hurt anyone." Ron yelled.

The female was crying, "A Shade, and you didn't tell me. I'm your girlfriend."

"So what? Would have believed me, besides you all met him and it didn't bother you." Ron was waving his arms around now.

Yami's attention was drawn away from the argument by Yugi's mind. /Yami can you be human please and come here./

/Why?/ Yami sent back, a little confused. Appearing in the common room would only make things worse as far as he could see.

/Please trust me, they need to see that you will not hurt them./ Yugi had turned his eyes on Yami now, so the Shade gave in. There really was no point arguing.

He coiled his shadows into human formed and walked across the room. Harry looked at him and then down at Yugi as the little elf abandoned his place on Harry's hip and trotted across the room to Yami. Yami obligingly picked up his elf and allowed him to settle in his arms. This had all happened so quickly that no one had a chance to scream.

Yami checked his emotive spells again; it was starting to become an obsession and not really a very productive one. Yugi laid his head on Yami's shoulder and watched everyone, Harry and Hermione came over to him.

Harry looked around and cleared his throat, "Well I suppose... look you all kind of deserve an explanation." He stopped and looked at Yugi who nodded, giving Harry permission to explain why Yami was at Hogwarts. Yami didn't mind either way, the humans could do nothing to affect him anyway, though he suspected that they would try something sooner or later.

"Look Yami's here because he's a friend of Yugi's." Harry said loudly, Yugi affirmed the statement by kissing Yami lightly on the cheek. Yami looked down at him, keeping his face blank, but letting Yugi sense his bemusement. The elf giggled brightly and patted him on the cheek.

People were looking confused, Yami rolled his eyes at them and several took a step back, "I doubt many of you will even know that I am here, my magic will only affect you if I want it to." He told them. Several children were crying and didn't seem to notice anything, but most of them were just standing there looking frightened, some few looked a little confused. Yami supposed that they were the humans raised in non-magical homes only learning about Shades from their wizarding friends.

Harry opened his mouth to try again when the portrait opened up behind them. Everyone jumped and turned to watch the stern female teacher... Yami fumbled for a name for a moment... McGonagall step through.

She looked around the room, taking the frightened looks on the children's faces and Yami standing in the centre of the room. "Well." She said studying him over her glasses, "This makes things easier. The Headmaster wishes to see you."

Yami raised an eyebrow at her, "Does he now?"

McGonagall just looked at him, Yami rolled his eyes, these humans were really becoming far too used to him. "Very well." Yami turned to look at Harry. "Are you coming?" He asked.

McGonagall coughed, "Potter is not invited."

"Then I am inviting him." Yami told her and pushed past her, sending out a rope of shadow magic to hook the young human by the waist and drag him along.

"This is very improper." McGonagall told him, catching up to him effortlessly on her longer legs. Yugi yawned widely and blinked at them all sleepily. /Did I really have to come?/ He asked.

Yami turned his head slightly to look at the elf. He hadn't even thought about leaving Yugi behind, though now that he thought about it he could sense the elf's tiredness. /Sorry./

/'s alright/ Yugi leant his head on Yami's shoulder and closed his eyes. Harry looked over at him in surprise. He looked up at McGonagall who was watching with worry in her eyes. "I guess getting potion spilt on you is exhausting."

Yami's attention was distracted at this point as several darkings had just caught up with them. They mixed with the three Yami had with him at the moment and chattered at him, apparently there were more humans arriving at the moment and they were all heading up to the room with the phoenix.

Yami glanced at the two humans and wished that he could talk to darkings like he could talk to Yugi. He grumbled softly causing both humans to look at him and then whispered in what passed for the Shade language for the darkings to communicate with the two darkings that followed Dumbledore. He wanted to know what was going on before he got there.

Harry looked at him in confusion, Yami knew with 100% certainty that the earth magic would not be able to translate that so he gave Harry an appropriately smug look and followed McGonagall to Dumbledore's office. As they walked, getting ever closer the darkings reported back. They reported that the new humans were waiting in Dumbledore's office and they were preparing magic. Yami pushed a dozy Yugi into Harry's surprised arms. "Something is about to happen, once we enter Dumbledore's office call up the earth magic and shield yourself. No matter what happens, keep Yugi safe." He murmured to the human.

McGonagall looked at them, but said nothing. Harry nodded and Yami sensed the earth magic rising from the walls, though he could see nothing without his vision filters. Yami stretched out his senses as they ascended the stairs, Dumbledore was there as well as eight other humans. One of whom was a Death Eater. Yami growled and readied himself.

McGonagall stepped through the door and held it open for him. Yami stepped through and dodged sideways, it was wise move because the first thing all the other humans did was hurtle spells at him. Every single one shattered on Harry's earth magic shield with a sound akin to a gong being rung. Yugi woke with a cry of surprise and Harry staggered at the sudden drain on his strength.

Yami whirled, for once ignoring the phoenix as he focused instead on the humans. Unfortunately this meant that his attention to the room around him dimmed and he swooped across the circle of spells before he realised what he had done. He hit the other side of the inverted anti-Shade spells with a sickening crunch.

Yami staggered back his senses ringing and he hit another wall. He spun before he realised that he was now standing in a circle made of anti-Shade spells which met over his head. These spells weren't made with earth magic which recognised him either; these were pure confounding human magic which burned his shadows even when he stood in the centre of the circle.

He pulled his shadows into his human form, the smallest and most protected form he could manage.

Yugi was staring at him in horror. /Yami you have to get out!/ Yugi nearly screamed at him. Yami looked around the wizards were patting each other on the back. Yami's eyes fixed on the Death Eater; he could almost taste the tainting. This could not get back to Voldemort.

"Dumbledore." Yami snarled. If the old wizard knew about this then not even Yugi would be able to stop him from ripping the old wizard to shreds. One look at McGonagall had told Yami she had known nothing of this, she actually look horrified and insulted.

Yami turned his head to look at Dumbledore who looked angry. "I swear that I knew nothing of this Yami." He pulled out his wand, but Harry had already dragged his out and yelled out the spell to break the anti-Shade spells. The spell hit the circle and Yami staggered sideways at the roar that resulted from the spell ineffectively hitting the circle. Yami bit his lip to suppress the groan of pain as his shadows contacted the spells again. This was making him mad. These humans had nothing, they had upset Yugi, threatened Harry, and now they had trapped him.

"Well Dumbledore," one of the Ministry wizards said, "We will be taking this Shade with us, so you don't have to worry about anything." Yami turned his head and snarled at them. All the Ministry humans flinched despite themselves; none of these had faced him before, all those who had would still be having their magic eaten by darkings. The Death Eater sneered, "Nothing you can do Shade and now we have something that will hold you we can stop all the other Shades."

Yami narrowed his eyes and noticed out of the corner of his eye that Yugi was trying to pull free of Harry's arms, the elfin boy was pulling in earth magic ready to shatter the spells around Yami. Yami nearly smacked himself on the head, why hadn't he thought of that?

Yami gathered himself into a crouch as the human wizards began to pull out their wands. Dumbledore was talking angrily with the leader of the wizards. Yami released his hold on his fear spells. His mind brushed Yugi's telling the elf that he was ready.

A wave of earth magic woven with elfin spells exploded outward through Harry's shield and hit the anti-Shade spells. They shattered silently, but to Yami's senses the air around him was screaming.

The instant the spells were gone Yami leapt outwards, his human form dissolved and his fear spells, enhanced with active shadows engulfed the Ministry wizards. They all collapsed into blubbering messes, but it was the Death Eater Yami focused on.

Terror leapt into his eyes moments before Yami's shadows hit him. The Death Eater raised his wand to defend himself, but he was too slow. Yami pulled his spells away from the other wizards and wrapped himself around the Death Eater. The Death Eater began to scream and scream not stopping until Yami heard Yugi give a quiet sob, so he crushed the flicker of life remaining within the human.

The other humans were getting to their feet, trying to reform the circle. Yami twitched his shadows, pulled their wands out of their hands and snapped them. "Go back to your master; tell him that if another of you set's foot within this school then I will come to the Ministry and personally obliterate all of you." Yami was so angry that he was having trouble holding human form; the phoenix shrilling in the background wasn't really helping either. The humans scattered.

Yami turned to Harry and nearly bounced off the boy's earth magic shield. Harry was panting and staring at Yami in stunned disbelief. Yami reached out and rapped on the shield ignoring the sting as his magic contacted the other. Yugi was crying softly and not paying attention. "Let go Harry."

Harry blinked at him, "Right sorry." The earth magic flickered and faded back into the walls. Yami stepped over to Harry and took Yugi from his arms. /I'm sorry, but he was a Death Eater./

Yugi snuggled into his shoulder and sniffed, /I know/.

Yami hugged him and turned to Dumbledore who was looking down at the body on his floor. "I assume that there was a reason for this, since you let the others go." Dumbledore noted. Harry made a gagging noise behind them. Yami shook his head; humans really had no stomach for death. "He was a Death Eater."

McGonagall gasped, "How did you know?"

Yami shifted Yugi on his hip and turned to look at her, remembering her expression when he was trapped he explained politely. "I can sense the tainting that Voldemort is on them."

"Tainting?" She asked. Yami shrugged, he didn't know either.

Dumbledore knelt at the Death Eaters side and looked thoughtful. Yami looked down at Yugi; the elf looked up at him and gave him a wobbly smile. /I should not have brought you./ Yami though to him.

/If I had not come would you have been able to escape?/ Yugi replied.

Yami shifted uncomfortably, /I would have remembered the earth magic eventually./

Yugi wrapped his arms around Yami and hugged him fiercely. /I do not want to lose you./

Yami hugged him back, ignoring the odd looks they were getting from the two adults in the room. /I am not going anywhere./

Dumbledore nodded, "Did you know that there were Death Eaters at the Ministry?" He asked Yami.

Yami sighed, right, time for a report from the spies, the darkings in the room wandered over to him, led by Yami's darking. Yugi did his best not to cringe as the little shadows flittered over them both. "There are currently eight wizards under the control of Voldemort within the Ministry, only three of those are Death Eaters, one of those is now dead." Yami paused for a significant look at the corpse. "However I cannot tell you their names or what they look like, though I could identify them if I saw them."

Dumbledore sighed, "That could be an issue, though we know that he has spies within the Ministry." He paused and looked up. "Are there any within Hogwarts?"

Yami considered that, he didn't really look for it within the people here. "There is one of the teachers and a few of the students within the snake house."

Harry's head snapped up. "Snape?" Dumbledore looked at Harry and he looked a little put out.

"Who?" Yami asked, prodding Yugi at the same time. The elf showed him the image of the nasty human who Harry hated. Harry was trying to explain who Snape was at the same time so Yami cut him off. "Yes that human."

Dumbledore nodded, "Professor Snape used to work for Voldemort. He now works for us as a spy."

Yami looked at Dumbledore, Yami had recognised Snape as a Death Eater, though not one he had had a lot of contact with during his stint with the non-human. "Whatever, the children who bear the taint are only slightly tainted. I do not know what that means."

"Malfoy." Harry said and then snapped his mouth shut at the scathing look Dumbledore gave him. Yami shifted his weight and readied himself in case he had to defend his human. "Harry I think it is time that you went to bed. Yami thank you for the information and I apologise for this attack on you."

Yami tilted his head, "You should also be aware that Voldemort is looking for another way to combat Shade magic, and he is looking in the Ministry for it." Yami turned and pushed Harry ahead of him. As the three of them walked down the hallways Yami glanced at Harry.

He wondered if Dumbledore was aware of the tainting on Harry. There was no way Yami was going to mention it; he couldn't risk Harry being taken away. As his mind wandered that path he remembered the tainting he had destroyed last year, perhaps he should have mentioned it. Yugi glanced up at him. /We don't even know what the tainting is. I think we should keep it under wraps for the moment. I think Dumbledore knows more about what Voldemort has done to his soul than he is letting on./ Yami tilted his head in a slight nod.

They reached the portrait entrance and Yami handed Yugi over to Harry. The elf had started dozing off in his arms again. "Take him to bed, I will try and avoid appearing anywhere for a while, but if you need me, I will not be far away." He stepped back and dissolved into shadows. Harry watched him leave, a puzzled look on his face.

* * *

_Yes the Ministry are that stupid, though it nearly worked._

_Way too many ideas in my head, so sorry if things seem to be going nowhere at the moment, I am trying to make sure you get all the pieces without giving away too much._


	19. A Sign

_Writing is currently becoming a little difficult, I have a pile of work slowly breeding on my desk and it is starting to freak me out a little. So I will still be trying to update every week, but don't be surprised if I miss a week. _

_Updates will still come, two week gaps at the absolute latest. Having said that Murphy's Law will probably kick in and I will find myself with lots of time for writing. _

Chapter 19: A Sign

Harry yawned, judging by the dim light beyond his closed eyelids it was still early morning. He rolled over intending to go back to sleep before he had to get up for class. There was an indignant squawk as Harry rolled over onto a small something. Harry opened his eyes a crack and looked down, he was lying on top of Yugi and the elf looked startled.

Harry stared blankly at him for a moment before realising that he should get off before he squashed his young ward flat. Harry rolled back over and Yugi very quickly got out of bed looking ruffled. He pouted at Harry who grinned sleepily at him. "Sorry." He whispered.

Yugi rolled his eyes and began to hunt around for his clothes. "Where are you going?" Harry asked, taking a quick look around to make sure that they didn't wake anyone else. Not that it was likely; it normally took screams of agony to wake his dorm-mates.

"To find Yami." Yugi said calmly as he got entangled with his shirt. Harry reached over and pulled it down over his head. Tri-coloured hair exploded out of the neck, followed by the rest of Yugi's head. Yugi picked up his teddy and waved. "Have a nice sleep." He padded almost silently out of the room.

Harry flopped back onto bed. He was awake now so typically there was no chance of getting back to sleep. It had been nearly a week since the Ministry people had fled the school after trying to capture Yami and since then Harry had seen Yami twice. Both of those times had been to report in from his spies. Voldemort now had people within the Department of Mysteries looking into fighting Shade magic, particularly looking into the Veil of Shadows.

Harry mused over the Veil, it had taken Sirius from him and it had magic which could stop Yami in his tracks. Magic that, according to Yami, was the same power from which Shades were born. If Voldemort managed to discover how to control that magic then Harry doubted there was anything that would be able to stop him. Harry stretched again and thought; there had to be something he could do. He felt so useless. Yami was giving him all this information; hell Yami could probably lead Harry right to Voldemort now if Harry wanted him to, but Harry could do nothing to stop Voldemort.

Harry stared blankly at the ceiling for a few minutes; he needed advice, advice from someone who wasn't involved in the politics of the wizarding world. He wriggled into a sitting position and pulled out a quill, ink bottle and a piece of parchment. Harry dipped the quill into the ink and then stared at the paper. How could he possibly put this? After a few minutes of writing and scribbling and re-writing Harry read back what he had written.

-Dear Ryou, I don't know how much you know about what is going on in the wizarding world, but Yami has been spying on this wizard called Voldemort for us. Voldemort is a Dark Wizard, but that's not really the issue.  
Yami has found out that Voldemort is looking into ways to fight Shade magic, and he is looking at something that Yami called the 'Veil of Shadows'. Ask Bakura what it is; he was there at the Ministry. Yami won't tell me anything more than it contains the same magic that creates Shades, but I can tell that it worries him. When we were near it last year Yami and Bakura couldn't come anywhere near it, but I could still use the earth magic without being affected.  
Is there a way that I could use the earth magic to stop Voldemort from using the Veil? I don't know if you can help me, but I really need to ask someone and I don't think Yugi would understand. Harry-

By the time Harry had finished writing and sealing his letter everyone else was starting to wake up. So Harry stored the letter in his bag to send later and got dressed.

There was a big commotion in the common room when they arrived. Harry wandered over to the notice board and Ron followed him still blinking sleepily. Expecting to have to shove his way through the crowd Harry stepped forwards, but the three girls who were at the back pressing forwards to get through saw him. They all gave soft screams and staggered backwards at warp speed pulling the people in front of them out of the way.

Within moments Harry found himself with a path through the crowd. Harry sighed and Ron laughed and stepped up to the board. Yami hadn't appeared in a week to anyone except the three of them and Neville, yet people were still terrified that anything done to Harry would bring the Shade back out.

Harry turned his attention to the notice in an attempt to distract himself from the whispering which had started behind him. "Apparition lessons." Ron said, looking longingly at the parchment pinned to the board. Harry stepped back and let everyone crowd in again.

"Great." Harry said. Ron apparently took this as approval because he proceeded to exclaim about how great it would be when they could just disappear and reappear wherever they wanted to. The one sided conversation lasted until they reached the Great Hall were Hermione was sitting at the table. "Did you see the note for Apparition lessons?" Ron asked her.

Hermione nodded and then looked around confused. Harry took a guess. "He's with Yami; I woke him up by rolling on him. I think he's a bit annoyed." Harry pulled a plate over and grinned at his friends. Yugi annoyed wasn't all that different from Yugi happy. The little elf really was set to cheerful.

Classes that morning went as painfully as always. During potions while his potion was brewing contently on the fire Harry was reading through the Prince's book. He had become very good at translating the tiny scribble which was written in the margins. In one margin sort of off on its own was a word, 'Sectumsempra-for enemies'. Harry thought about it, then turned down the corner of the page and flicked over.

After a few more moments he became distracted again. He wanted to send his letter to Ryou, but he couldn't send it by owl because all the owls were being checked as they left Hogwarts. Harry thought and thought. He had even tried, during a quick trip to the bathroom, to get the earth magic to send it. He hadn't even been able to call up the elemental magic let alone do anything with it. Harry fumed quietly, it had been so easy to call up the magic that night in Dumbledore's office, but now he couldn't do it. He hadn't failed with at least calling the magic up since the summer.

All in all he was left with no alternative; he had to ask Yami or Yugi to send the letter for him.

Lunch finally rolled around so Harry, Ron and Hermione went looking for Yami and Yugi. They found the two of them sitting under a tree on a blanket with Luna. "Hey Luna." Harry called out. Their Ravenclaw friend smiled and Yugi waved enthusiastically to them.

Harry dropped himself down on the blanket and grinned as Yugi climbed into his lap. "Hey do you think you could send this to Ryou for me?" He asked Yugi, pulling the envelope out of his bag. Hermione and Ron looked at it with interest, but before they could ask anything Luna distracted them with one of her perfectly absurd statements.

Harry grinned and looked back down at Yugi; he had taken the envelope and was turning it over in his fingers. Yugi looked over at Yami. The Shade was reclined against the tree trunk, hidden from view from the doors to the school, his red eyes were half closed; he almost looked asleep. Despite this he reached out a hand and took the parchment.

Yami looked at Harry and then his fingers did a strange twist and shadows completely enveloped Harry's letter, they then swirled away and vanished into the forest. "Will that get through Bakura?" Harry asked, surely the other Shade wouldn't appreciate some of Yami's magic wandering through his territory.

Yami nodded, "He will let it through; that kind of magic is no threat to the elves." Harry nodded and then realised that Ron was back on the subject of apparition.

"It would be great wouldn't it? What do you think Yami?" Ron looked over at the Shade eagerly.

"What do I think of what?" Yami purred, opening his eyes wide.

"Apparition, you know the ability to just pop here, pop gone." Ron looked positively dreamy.

"I think that humans overestimate its usefulness. Then again, you are very slow moving normally so I suppose anything is an improvement." The four humans blinked at him then realised that they had actually been insulted.

Yugi giggled and Harry couldn't stop himself from grinning. Ron's smile faded however. "You don't think that being able to go somewhere instantaneously is great."

"I have done so with my own magic only a few times and found it draining and pointless. I have travelled through the human method and all it resulted in was disorientation and the near death of the human."

Ron went pale, but Hermione nodded, "Makes sense human magic and Shade magic fight, besides it is normally painful to be around a Shade, I can't imagine what it would be like to carry one."

Yami stretched lazily, "Yes indeed. I did not think that your teleportation magic worked within the school grounds?"

Hermione nodded fiercely. "Dumbledore will probably lift the enchantments for the lessons." She said confidently.

Yami sat up suddenly looking fierce, "He can remove any spell on the school?" He demanded red eyes flashing. Yugi looked concerned and cooed at him softly. Harry was startled and Hermione was as well.

His friend's confusion only lasted a moment; she picked up on Yami's reason for being angry faster than Harry did. "Only some of the enchantments can be removed or lifted temporarily by the Head of the School. The apparition ones need to be removed sometimes for lessons. I don't think that the people who spelled the school against Shades could ever have foreseen a Shade working with humans so they made those spells permanent." Hermione gave Yami an apologetic smile as he laid back again eyes narrowed.

Harry turned a twig over in his fingers. "What about that spell you found Hermione."

Yami scoffed. "That did not work on the spells that those Ministry humans attempted to use, I do not think that it would work here where the earth magic is so powerful."

Harry looked down and blushed faintly, his failure that night still rankled. If Yugi hadn't intervened then it was possible that the Aurors would have dragged Yami out of Hogwarts.

Luna smiled gently, "What about using the earth magic to remove them, surely that will be powerful enough." Everyone looked at her.

Yami seemed to consider it before finally shaking his head, "You would need a large group of very powerful earth magic workers. The spells are old and very entwined, it would be more complex than any group of humans could manage. Maybe even out of the reach of the elves." Yami examined them all absently before turning his eyes off to look out over the forest, "Besides it does not matter anymore, the anti-Shade spells on Hogwarts open and allow me through."

Everyone stared at him, "How is that possible?" Hermione asked.

Yami shrugged, "No idea, though I suspect that it is because the spells are tied into the earth magic which runs through the school. The earth magic recognises me now, so it just lets me through."

Lune looked over at Yami, "If you escaped from the Ministry people, aren't they going to be suspicious of how you broke their magic?"

Yami wriggled uncomfortably, "Perhaps, I am hoping that they will not come after me again after all I can get through the spells on Hogwarts, as far as they know there is nothing to stop me getting through the spells around the Ministry..."

Hermione interrupted with a cry of surprise, "We're late, sorry Yami, bye."

Harry struggled to his feet looking down at Yugi, "Coming?" He asked. Yugi shook his head and curled up next to Yami. The Shade gave Harry a slightly smug look which Harry returned with a haughty smile before following Ron and Luna back into the castle.

A little something from Yugi

Yugi watched the confused looking first-year glance around the common room. He looked like he was looking for someone. Harry had run up to the dorm for something and there were very few other people in the common room. The first year looked at Yugi and fidgeted. Yugi smiled at him and the human took a few cautious steps towards Yugi, his eyes were flashing around the room, probably looking for Yami.

Yugi checked where his Shade was. Yami was investigating some of the glades in the Forest and did nothing more than affirm that he was still there. "This is for Harry." The first year was holding out a sheet of parchment. Yugi took the sheet and nodded, smiling comfortingly at the human, at least until he turned his back and fled. Then Yugi's smile slipped slightly.

He set the note from Dumbledore on Harry's things then rested his chin on the chair arm to think. People were still scared. Yami barely made an appearance; as such his magic was hardly even affecting the humans in the castle. Unfortunately the humans had been brought up on the idea that Shade's were dangerous and deadly so Yami didn't need to use his magic to make them afraid, they did it themselves.

Harry dropped into his seat and picked up his quill. "What's up?" He asked, Yugi gave a lopsided shrug and sighed, life with humans was much harder than life with his own people. Still this was where the shifting bond had brought him, so this was where he stayed.

Yugi pointed to the letter from Dumbledore. Harry picked it up and read through it. "Tomorrow night." Harry said. "Next lesson, wonder what he's got for us this time?"

Yugi smiled distractedly. He did wonder, mainly he wondered where these lessons were going. Dumbledore obviously had an agenda, Yugi just couldn't figure out what.

The next day passed appropriately slowly, Yugi spent most of it with Yami. His Shade was restless now that his movements were limited by the humans. Yugi did find it a little strange that Yami was avoiding the humans without complaining, much. As they were walking up to Dumbledore' office for Harry's lesson Yami queried him. "You have been very quiet, is something wrong."

"Why are you being so nice to the humans here?" Yugi blushed when he realised that he sounded like he was accusing Yami.

Yami shrugged and tweaked the magic to open the door to Dumbledore's office. "If we are going to be spending the rest of your childhood with humans then they are going to need to get used to me." Yami glanced down at him, then picked him up and carried him up the stairs. "I could go back to tormenting them if you prefer."

Yugi rolled his eyes, but fell silent when he realised that both Harry and Dumbledore were waiting for them. Yami set him on the chair next to the basin which Harry called a pensive.

Dumbledore added some more of the strange swirling mixture to the basin. "These two memories are not very long, but they are interesting." He stirred the basin with his wand, and Yugi watched with interest as the earth magic glimmered faintly before the three of them dropped face first into the bowl.

They were back in the house which they had visited during the first memory. Yugi felt Yami's mind swirl closer to his so he paused and waited as the Shade melded their minds. Yugi blinked a little and looked around the room, starting as he realised that what he had thought was a pile of rags was in fact a human.

Yugi shivered and moved closer to Harry. There was a knock at the door and the memory human looked up and frowned. The door opened and a young human stepped through. Harry gasped and stepped forward for a better look. Yugi felt Yami probing with his mind before he commented. /Voldemort./ Yami's mind was fuming softly; he hated Voldemort with a passion beyond Yugi's understanding.

Yugi shivered and hung back. He had never encountered Voldemort and Yami refused to allow Yugi access to his memories of the dark human, but all the stories that Harry had told him made Yugi want to be as far from this human as he could get, even within a memory.

The two memory humans were talking, Voldemort was questioning the other human, Morfin about his father. Suddenly Morfin lunged out, thrusting his hand forwards, "See this, this is all that's left..." Yugi suddenly stopped translating for Yami as he caught sight of the ring. It was his first real look at the ring which had been in Dumbledore's office. It was currently whole; no crack ran through the centre of the engraved symbol. /The treaty sign?/

He sensed Yami's confusion so he elaborated. /I do not really know what it is, but mother mentioned it once, apparently it was something big./

/I have never heard of it/.

/I do not think it involved Shades and it was definitely before I was born./ Yugi told him. /Do you think I should tell Harry./

/Tell him what? That you might recognise a symbol which may or may not have anything to do with Voldemort, but might have something to do with something, you do not know what, that the elves may have organised or done years ago?/ Yami sounded amused.

Yugi sent him a mental pout. /Alright, but I think I should send a letter to Ryou asking about it./ The young Voldemort was still talking to the ugly human, Yugi half listened in as Yami replied.

/Alright, do you want me to send it via darking? They quite enjoy having a reason to go into elfin forests./

/Alright./ Suddenly everything around them flashed and Yugi was once again standing on his chair. Yami was shaking himself, trying to rid his mind of the sudden surge of human magic. Yugi turned to look at Dumbledore and nearly fell of his chair. Harry caught him. "Are you alright?" He asked. Yugi nodded and straightened, waiting for his head to stop spinning after the surprise leap.

Dumbledore watched him silently, before speaking. "The day after that event, the senior Tom Riddle and his parents were found dead in unexplained circumstances." Everyone turned to look at him, even Yami. "The muggle police were confounded, however to the Ministry it was obvious that magic had been used. Morfin was convicted. He claimed to have killed them, providing the Aurors with details that only the killer could possibly know. However upon deeper examination I found that his memories had been modified."

"Voldemort killed them." Harry said quietly.

Dumbledore nodded. "Now we must move onto another memory, this one is very short. Are you ready?" He was looking at Yugi. Yugi felt his face heat up and looked down as he nodded. He wished people wouldn't assume things and then look at him like that.

Yugi leant over the pensive again and dropped into the memory.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Yami shook off the last of the human magic and closed his eyes again. Yugi was now standing in a room within Hogwarts. It was lit by firelight and a younger version of Harry's potions teacher was filling up one seat while the other seats were taken up by younger humans; students by their uniforms. Once again the younger Voldemort was there, Yugi stuck close to Harry again as they watched the group talking.

Finally the potions teacher dismissed the students, but as the rest filed out of the room, Voldemort hung back. "Sir I was wondering if you could explain something for me?" His voice was persuasive and the potions teacher chuckled, "Always thinking, eh Tom. Well I may be able to help, what did you wish to know?"

Voldemort looked thoughtful, "It was just a term that I came across in a library book, I didn't know what it meant and I couldn't find it anywhere else."

Slughorn looked interested, "Indeed?"

Voldemort looked up, "It was Horcrux. I don't suppose you know what it is?"

A sudden surge of human magic threw both Yugi and Yami out of the memory.

Yami lurched to his feet, partially dissolving to catch Yugi as the elf staggered off the chair; surprised at the second sudden flash of human magic. Yami ignored his own headache to check Yugi over. "I am alright." Yugi insisted and turned to look at Harry and Dumbledore. The two humans didn't seem to have noticed his disappearance. Yugi looked warily at the pensive. "What was that?" He asked, looked up at Yami.

Yami shook his head. "A lot of human magic, but I would like to know what a Horcrux is more than anything."

Harry stirred and lifted his head up and shook it, he looked down and then across at the two of them. "What happened, you disappeared."

Dumbledore straightened and then settled himself into his chair watching them all quietly.

Yugi turned his head and hid in Yami's chest, Yami could sense that the elf was still a little dizzy from the human magic. "There was a surge of human magic; it pushed us out of the memory."

Dumbledore nodded, "Do you know what that was?" His question was directed at Harry.

Harry shook his head, "I don't know sir."

Dumbledore steepled his fingers and examined the three of them over his fingertips. "Professor Slughorn has attempted to change the memory, probably to cast himself in a better light. Therefore, Harry I am setting you some homework. Before our next session I would like you to retrieve the true memory from Professor Slughorn."

Harry looked up, "Why Professor?"

Yami agreed; he got the feeling that Dumbledore knew exactly what a Horcrux was.

"Because Harry, we need to know exactly what Voldemort asked Professor Slughorn and what his replies were."

Harry looked doubtful. Yami decided to voice an option. "Surely it should not be too difficult; I will just scare the memory out of him."

Yugi pinched him hard for that and scowled. Yami smirked at him and looked at Harry. The human actually looked as though he was considering the option.

Dumbledore frowned slightly, "I would prefer that Harry make an attempt before you try more drastic measures." Yami chuckled and the three of them left the room.

Yami turned a corner following Harry when his darking keened at him. Yami paused; Yugi wiggled and looked up at him. A second darking hurried over, carrying a piece of parchment. Yami took it from the darking and examined it. The writing on the front was in the neat curling style which told Yami that it was from an elf and it was addressed to Harry. "Harry." Yami called after the human, who had not noticed that they had stopped.

Harry turned around, "This is for you." Yami held out the note and Yugi at the same time. He was still avoiding the common room. Harry took both elf and parchment as Yami turned and dissolved his human form.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Harry was anxious to finish all his work and go up to bed. He had resolved not to read Ryou's reply until he had finished. He hadn't told Yugi what he had written to the older elf about and unsurprisingly Yugi hadn't asked. Ron looked a little surprised when Harry packed up early and informed his friend that he was getting an early night.

Harry glanced at Yugi. "Coming?" He asked. Yugi gave him a polite smile and shook his head, going back to his drawing. Harry nodded and hurried up the stairs. Yugi was giving him some privacy, although he now had a book worth of Yugi's oddly detailed drawings of various animals and trees. He was considering collating them for Hagrid to use as a text book.

Harry changed into his pyjamas and climbed into bed. He pulled out Ryou's letter and opened it, reading slowly through the neat curling handwriting.

-Dear Harry, your letter surprised me a little. Earth magic is rarely used by elves for war or fighting, so I never considered telling you about such uses.  
I asked Bakura about this Veil of Shadows, he was very reluctant to tell me anything about it, but I persevered. Apparently it is made of human magic, something that a wizard long ago was working on, trying to control the Shades. However the magic was either incomplete or unsuccessful, resulting in the Veil.  
The magic within is a very dark type of shadows. You are correct in say that they are the same sort of shadows from which Shades themselves are born. However in the same way that the same ends of a magnet will repel each other, Shades cannot approach those shadows. They are a part of their centres, their souls, or at least what passes for their souls.  
I am afraid that is all that I know. Shades do not seem to know much about their birth, other than what it requires. As for using the earth magic to combat it, I think it would be effective. Earth magic is strong enough to fight Shades so it should be strong enough to fight whatever magic Voldemort is able to get from the Veil.  
Be careful though Harry, your knowledge of the earth magic is limited and as such the magic may take control again in order to protect you. You may find that the results of such a pre-emptive strike could prove to be more troublesome than waiting for Voldemort to attack you first.  
Keep practicing with the earth magic, have Yugi show you some more ways to use it. The better your control and understanding of the magic the more likely any magic you use will do exactly what you intended it to do. Regards Ryou.-

Harry set the letter down on his bed, so the Shades didn't know much more about the Veil than he did. That was probably why Yami refused to say anything about it. Harry looked down the parchment on his lap. Practice the earth magic more, Harry sighed and stowed the letter in his trunk. Like he didn't have enough to do.


	20. Messages

Chapter 20: Messages

Harry waited until a group of third years had passed before he filled Hermione and Ron in on Dumbledore's request. Yugi and Yami were watching them from the relative safety of the tree branches above. While it was still freezing outside, it did mean that people weren't likely to hang around and eavesdrop. That and Yugi had discovered a way to use his elfin magic to make a wind shield, so they were actually quite comfortable beneath the big twisted tree by the lake.

Ron shook his head, "Just ask him man, he loves you. Despite..." Ron threw a significant look up into the branches of the tree where Yami's shadows flittered around entertaining Yugi.

"I heard that." Yami said, his eyes appearing for a moment.

Ron grinned, but it faded as Hermione shook her head, "You need to try something more subtle than that Harry, Slughorn has obviously tried to hide this memory for a reason. Although I've never even heard of a Horcrux, Yami have you?" She looked up as well.

Again Yami paused, his eyes welling into existence. "No, it must be a human magic and a little used one at that. I would think that it is a darker magic, or your teacher would not have attempted to hide the memory of it from everyone."

Harry nodded, he'd thought of that. "Hey Yugi, do you think any of the elves might know anything about them?"

Yugi shook his head, then paused and shook his head again. "Elves actually know very little about human magic, we cannot use it so we have no need to learn it."

"Oh." There went that idea. Harry didn't think that getting the memory off Slughorn was going to be all that easy.

They fell into silence each trying to think of ways to convince Slughorn to relinquish a memory which he was obviously hiding desperately.

Harry made his way down to potions. He had no more ideas on how he was going to get the memory off Slughorn than he had that morning. Harry slumped down into his seat and watched Slughorn stand out the front and talk about poisons. Harry hardly listened so when everyone in the room lunged towards the supply cupboard and the cluster of little bottles at the front of the room, Harry nearly fell out of his chair in surprise.

Harry hurried up to the front, picked up his poison and headed back to his seat. Hermione was already stirring her poison in her cauldron, so Harry mimicked her and poured his into his own. He then opened the Half-blooded Prince's book. There was nothing.

Harry flickered through a few pages in desperation, but there was not a single note within the whole chapter. He tried to read the actual information, but it may as well have been Gobbledegook for all the sense it made.

Harry stirred his poison absently, what was he going to do? He had hoped to do spectacularly in this lesson to try and pacify Slughorn before he asked him for the memory. This was not going to go well.

Slowly Harry started to add ingredients to his potion, time passed, the room started to smell really awful. Harry didn't know what he was doing let alone how he was progressing. Suddenly there was a shift in the room and the temperature dropped. Harry and Hermione looked up moments before everyone else did. Yami took human form mid stride, the silence in the room was almost deafening.

True to form, Yami ignored the people looking at him. He walked calmly up to Harry's desk where Harry's cauldron was spewing thick foul smelling smoke. Apparently Yami wasn't totally immune because he wrinkled his nose and avoided walking through the smoke.

"What is that?" He said, leaning over to glance in the cauldron.

Harry took a moment to look around for Yugi, but the little elf was nowhere to be seen. "An antidote." Harry told him. "Was there something you wanted?" He was more than a little confused as to why Yami had wandered by.

"Yes, after this lesson Dumbledore wishes to speak with you." Yami was still frowning into the cauldron. Harry could only assume that Yami had been informing Dumbledore of something his spies had found and the Headmaster had asked him to pass on the message. "This seems very pointless, why are you learning it?"

Slughorn finally spoke up. "The ability to create antidotes to poisons is one of the most important skills a potioner can have." He almost sounded insulted.

Yami lifted an eyebrow; his red eyes glowed faintly for a moment. "Surely by the time you have created these antidotes you would be dead?" He placed a hand over Harry's potion and a shadow drew a little of it out, it was thick and the colour of mustard. "Though death may be preferable to drinking this." He let the potion fall back into place. There were several nervous giggles from around the room. Harry rolled his eyes at Yami who smirked.

Slughorn puffed up. "The potion is not complete, and most antidotes are very quick to create."

Yami shrugged and turned to leave, his form dissolved slowly, shadows slowly unravelling. Harry remembered the delicate weaves of shadows he had seen at the beginning of the year which made up Yami's form and he wondered again how something which seemed so thick could possibly form into the delicate threads which made up that weave.

"I suppose the potions only work on humans, seems rather useless to me." And he was gone. The atmosphere in the room warmed and rose.

Harry looked up at Slughorn, "Sorry professor."

"That's alright my boy, no harm done. Strange creature isn't he?" Slughorn was still looking towards the door.

"Yes sir." Harry's answer was vague. He had just noticed that written on the margin of his book was a new sentence. As Slughorn moved off Harry turned his book and read the note. Harry hadn't even noticed Yami writing, though he had probably used magic. It was written in a slightly wobbly hand and the words sucked in the light, suggesting to Harry that they were actually written in magic rather than ink.

Harry read quickly, not sure how long the sentence would last. –Humans, you really are useless, you do not need to see Dumbledore. Yugi says that elves use bezoars.-

Harry stared at the note. Yami was helping Harry cheat. He shook his head, got to his feet and remembered back to first year. Bezoar; a stone found in the stomach of a goat which was an antidote to most poisons. Harry quickly pushed aside vials of potions ingredients until he found a box marked bezoars. He opened the box and picked out one of the small stones before heading back to his bench.

His potion had now turned dark brown, so he vanished it trying not to gag as he did so. There were still a few minutes left and while everyone else was hurriedly stuffing ingredients into jars Harry went back to his book. Yami's note had vanished, leaving only the faintest black smear where the letters had been moments before.

"Alright everyone, let's see what you've come up with." Slughorn called, people seemed rather reluctant to show their teacher what they had done, understandably seeing as most of them had only reached the stage where their poison had turned into a blackened crust on the outer edge of their cauldron and their antidote a random assortment of what they had seen other people gathering.

Slughorn nodded to Hermione looking pleased, bypassing several other cauldrons until he came to Harry. The Professor glanced into his cauldron and frowned, "Harry, your antidote." He looked hopeful. So Harry took a deep breath and held out the bezoar.

Slughorn stared at him for a moment, and then burst out laughing. "Well, yes Harry, a bezoar would be an antidote to all of these poisons, still creating antidotes is an important skill." He chuckled and moved on.

Hermione glared at Harry. "If you got that from that book..."

"I didn't Hermione; here look if you don't believe me." Harry handed his book over to her. Harry packed up everything else as Hermione skimmed quickly through the empty pages. Harry was glad that Yami's note had faded; he didn't think that getting help from Yugi would be any better than getting help from the Half-Blood Prince.

Hermione seemed a little happier that Harry had thought of something himself and she told him that she would wait outside for him. Harry sighed and waited until everyone had left. Slughorn hadn't noticed that Harry had remained until he turned to clean out a few cauldrons. "Harry, what can I do for you?"

Harry picked up his bag and tried to avoid twisting his fingers. "Well, Professor I was wondering if you could tell me anything about...Horcruxes?"

Slughorn's face went red and then pale. "Dumbledore put you up to this didn't he?"

Harry opened his mouth, but had no time to reply as the Potion's master continued. "Well he has everything that he is going to get out of me."

Slughorn hurried out giving a few fearful looks around the room. Harry sighed, that had gone as well as he had expected. Maybe he would have to call Yami in to help

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Yami made his way back along the corridor. Poisons, honestly Harry really could be learning more important things, like how to use the earth magic.

Yugi was still waiting where Yami had left him, in the care of six darkings. Yugi was scowling faintly at the tiny shadows who were for once being aware of their surroundings and were trying to entertain Yugi by making patterns in the air. /And you tell me off for being rude./ Yami thought to him as he called the darkings back from his elf. They came agreeably.

Yugi sighed and fell into step as they headed back outside. /I try, but they just...I don't know. I will try harder./ He smiled brightly up at Yami. Yami couldn't resist smiling back.

/Was there a reason we were helping Harry with his lessons?/ Yami asked as they settled below the same tree they had recently vacated, Yami withdrew into his shadow form so that he could hover over the snow, Yugi climbed up into the tree to the drier branches. /Yes, he needs to get Slughorn happy so that he will give Harry the memory./

/Somehow I doubt that it will work./ Yami told him, the darkings were pressing him with information again. Both from those following the Death Eaters, they were still trying to get into the Department of Mysteries, and from other Shades. That gave Yami an idea. He made his way into the tree and settled himself a branch below Yugi. He then asked his darking to keep watch for the humans coming out and asked the other darkings to find the darking the Ryou had sent to the village for Bakura. Yugi had mentioned it a few weeks ago.

Yami waited for a moment then the darkings began to chatter at him, providing him with the latest gossip from Ryou's village. Yami ignored that and asked them to pass a message only to that darking. The message was asking Bakura about Horcruxes.

Yami had never heard of them, but Bakura had lived with elves longer than Yami had and so he had a little more constructive contact with humans. Yami had never used the darkings for passing individual messages and he wasn't entirely sure it would work, however after a few moments the darkings reported that Bakura had heard a human mention Horcruxes once, they were dark magic, forbidden magic. That was all. And not to send him any more stupid messages. Yami ignored the last bit and sighed, so Bakura knew no more than Yami himself did. Still this had proved informative as to the extent of the darkings communicative skills.

Yami smirked and turned to the darkings again. "Pass onto the other Shades that Voldemort and his Death Eaters are looking for a way to harm us." The darkings were happy to do this though he knew that they didn't understand why. Yami smirked as he settled back. If the Shades knew that Voldemort was going to try and kill them then they would react in the exact same way that they had reacted to the increased strength of the giant mages, they would wipe them out.

Yugi looked up and frowned, Yugi hadn't understood what Yami had said, but he probably suspected foul play.

Yami slid down from the tree and reached up to catch Yugi, the elf landed lightly in Yami's shadows and the two of them went to find Harry.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Harry dropped onto the bench at the Gryffindor table. It had been three days since he had tried to get the memory off Slughorn and he had no further chances to get it. Slughorn was avoiding him, leaving immediately after he had dismissed them from class.

"Harry look at this." Harry looked up from his breakfast at the Daily Prophet that Hermione had pushed under his nose. It was only then that Harry noticed that people were watching him with awe rather than the usual terror. Harry took the paper, handed Yugi his toast and began to read.

_Early this morning four confirmed Death Eaters were found dead. They had no visible signs of magic or physical harm on them confounding Aurors. However further examination of the area revealed that they were outside of the anti-Shade spells of the nearby town.  
Closer examination proved that the Death Eaters had indeed been killed, not by humans, but by a Shade. Aurors are baffled as to the reasons behind the attack. A source within the Ministry said that Aurors are considering questioning the Shade which currently dwells within Hogwarts, apparently under the command of Harry Potter.  
This writer suggests that perhaps The Chosen One has begun to rid our world of You-Know-Who and his supporters._

Harry looked up at Hermione and blinked, he had nothing to say. A few weeks ago the Ministry were trying to take Yami away, bad mouthing Harry and now they wanted their help. Harry passed the paper back to Hermione. "So the Ministry is swapping sides again, big surprise."

Ron grinned, "Yeah, what's the big deal."

Hermione rolled her eyes and sighed, "Shades killing Death Eaters, Harry. Why?"

"Shades attack everything that enters their territory." Harry reminded Hermione.

She shook her head. "This is different, if they were attacking everyone then why didn't they attack the Aurors who following them?"

Harry opened his mouth and then stopped. Yami really seemed to hate Voldemort, but he had never really asked why, maybe the other Shades felt the same. Harry looked down at Yugi. The elf raised an eyebrow and smiled around his toast. "Does Yami have anything to do with this?" Harry asked him.

Yugi wiggled his shoulders and shook his head. Ron laughed and choked on his bacon, Hermione looked confused. Harry tried to translate. "You're not sure, but you think so." Yugi smiled and nodded.

Hermione stared at him. "How can you understand that?"

Harry grinned, "Practice." He looked down at Yugi, "Can you warn him that the Ministry might be back to ask him about this?" Yugi nodded and finished the rest of his breakfast before hurrying out of the Hall.

They had their first apparition lesson that afternoon, everyone crowded into the Great Hall to be greeted by a tiny and very pale man. Yugi had decided to come with them. Apparently Yami was busy with something, something that bored Yugi senseless. As their instructor told them to stand outside of one of the hoops which lay on the floor, Harry put Yugi down next to his. The elf settled cross-legged to watch.

"Now everyone please focus. The most important part of apparition is to remember the three D's Destination, Determination and Deliberation. So please focus on your Destination, the inside of your hoop, be Determined about going there and Deliberate your leap there, like so." With a little twirl he disappeared with a crack and reappeared across the room. Yugi jumped at the noise and turned his head rapidly to find where the teacher had gone.

Harry swallowed. Even side-along apparition hadn't been all that fun. He looked down at Yugi. The elf was looking up at him horrified; apparently elfin magic had nothing like this.

Harry stared at his hoop as the instructor called for them to try themselves. Harry closed his eyes, focused his mind on the inside of the hoop and spun on one foot. The resulting action proved to be totally lacking in magic, but succeeded in allowing him to trip over his own feet.

Yugi's horrified face vanished and he started to giggle. Harry glared at him, Yugi smiled at him and got to his feet. He then did a neat little pirouette and jumped lightly into the hoop. "Not quite the point." Harry told him. Yugi giggled lightly and took a seat again.

The lesson didn't get much better from that point on, until there was a scream from across the room. Everyone turned to look, to see Susan Bones standing in her hoop, missing one leg which remained standing outside the hoop.

Harry's vision went blurry and Yugi gave a shrill cry of horror and covered his eyes. Harry took a big gulp of air as Susan vanished behind the teachers who rushed over, there was another loud pop and the teachers stepped back to reveal Susan with her leg now attached. Harry could already feel the temperature dropping subtly.

He reached out for the earth magic, he knew that he wasn't supposed to use it in front of the teachers, but if Yami decided to attack then they were in trouble anyway.

The Shade's shadows swirled around Harry and settled next to Yugi. The only people who noticed him at first were those who were standing around Harry. Hermione didn't pull back as strands of Yami's shadows rolled out from his form and wrapped around her. Ron however gave a start of surprise as he received the same treatment. It took Harry a moment to realise that the goosebumps on his arms were in response to the shadows examining him.

"What's going on here?" The instructor was hurrying over, with McGonagall at his heels. Yami's shadows partially fused and he rose to his feet, Yugi in his arms. The elf was still hiding his face.

Yami's shadows tightened around the three humans for a moment before they were released and the twining ropes returned to wrap around Yami's slim human form. The instructor blinked rapidly for a moment before the colour drained from his face. "You...you're... Shade."

McGonagall interrupted before he could go further. "It's quite alright Twycross, Yami would you please leave, perhaps it would be best to get Yugi away from this." She motioned around to everyone, including the sobbing Susan Bones. Yami eyed the Transfiguration teacher before nodding. He glanced over his shoulder at Harry. His eyes shone a warning, but this time Harry was almost positive it was a warning to take care of himself. Harry blinked at the Shade in confusion and smiled warily. He wasn't sure if he had seen what he thought he had seen.

Talking had exploded around the room and it took the Professors a few minutes to calm everyone down. "Alright everyone, try again. Remember Destination, Determination and Deliberation." Harry gritted his teeth; he suspected that he would be very sick of those three D's before long.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Yami set Yugi on the floor in the Entrance Hall and knelt down to look him in the eye. "Are you alright?" He asked gently. Yugi nodded without saying anything, he was still shaking. /I never, ever, ever want to do that, ever./ He thought to Yami after a few moments. Yami resisted smiling and pulled him into a hug.

As Yami stood up, Yugi now settled comfortably on his hip, something twanged. Yami turned his head and listened to his spells. He had finally gotten around to putting boundary spells up, or at least part of them. These spells allowed him to know if someone crossed into Hogwarts grounds. There were eight humans coming, all of them still bore the traces of Shade magic, his magic. Ministry humans then. Yami glanced down at Yugi; the elf was watching him so Yami passed the knowledge of who was coming to him via their bond.

Yugi's eyes darkened slightly in worry. /What are you going to do?/

Before Yami could answer both sets of doors into the Entrance Hall opened. Behind them students began to filter out of the Great Hall from their lesson, the front doors opened to reveal the Minister for Magic and seven of his Aurors. Everyone stopped moving. It was one of those dramatic moments where everyone was waiting to see who would attack first.

Yami obviously would have if it weren't for the fact that Yugi had a death grip on his arms and there was no way Yami was going to make a move which could put his elf in danger. The adult wizards all had their wands in their hands. Yami tilted his head and examined the remains of his spells on them. Their magic was functioning again, though two of them still had darkings following them so their magic was a little weaker.

Yami shifted his stance, but kept quiet. There was a scrabbling behind Yami and a quick look over his shoulder showed the Hogwarts teachers pushing through the mass of students to come and stand beside him. Although other than McGonagall they all gave him a wide berth.

McGonagall spoke first. "Can we help you Minister?" She asked. Yami smirked, her words were polite, but her tone was acidic.

"We are here to talk to the Shade." The human called Scrimgeour said; his yellow eyes were watching Yami with a wary, calculating look.

Yami lifted an eyebrow. "Talk human? Are you sure you do not want to try capturing me again? This time none of you will make it out alive." Yami reached out with his shadows. Yugi bit his lip, but didn't stop him.

Out came the wands. The wizards waved them and wove a spell. As Yami's shadows brushed over them he smiled, long ago the Death Eaters had used this spell. It was a sort of personalised anti-Shade spell, designed to stick to a person and prevent Shades from coming near. However it wasn't even close to being as effective as the real anti-Shade spells.

These spells discouraged close association, however if the Shade really wanted to get past them they could, without any trouble. Yami pressed through the spells and they dissolved.

Sweat broke out on the faces of the Ministry humans. Yami let his fear spells work slowly until they were shaking. Then he released them, pulling his emotive spells back into himself and clamping down on them. To Yami's surprise the students behind him were not afraid.

There was more silence, which was broken by Dumbledore's arrival. "Minister, perhaps it would be best not to confront a Shade. Surely you have learnt this lesson?"

The Minister scowled. "We are here to talk to him."

Yami interrupted, "So talk human."

"Somewhere more private, would be appropriate, Dumbledore, your office perhaps."

Yami rolled his eyes, "If you want to talk to me human you will do it here, now."

"Then the students should leave." Came the reply. Yami smiled, and reached out with his magic, he tweaked the spells in the walls and all the doors in the room disappeared. Yami set Yugi on the floor and the elf moved quickly over to Harry. Yami turned and paced aside, the humans were all watching him. "Come now human, you wished to talk, you cannot leave now, you have got my attention."

Scrimgeour gritted his teeth, "Dumbledore." He said. Yami watched Dumbledore draw his wand and flicked it at the wall. Yami smiled as nothing happened.

That was the beauty of the magic in the walls, because the ability to make the doors vanish was tied in with Shade magic, the spells would obey the commands of a Shade over anyone else. A whisper of amazement went through the students and teachers. Yami leant against the wall and smiled.

The Ministry humans muttered between themselves for a few minutes before Scrimgeour spoke up. "Very well, it seems we have no choice. There have now been several attacks on Death Eaters, by what we can only assume are Shades. Are you responsible?"

Yami watched in silence for a moment, it was impossible to tell whether the human was grateful or angry so he shrugged, "Not personally, why?"

"Will these attacks continue? And more importantly will they progress to the rest of the wizarding population?"

Yami lifted an eyebrow, "If we can get to you humans then we will. The one you call Voldemort..." Yami paused as almost everyone in the room twitched in horror. He shook his head and continued. "Voldemort is wrong, if some of my brothers have decided to take matters into their own hands then I have no problem with that, surely you should not either."

Yami met the Minister's eyes, the man managed to hold his gaze for a few moments before looking away. "Of course, we are just cautious that the deaths do not continue to the rest of the population." He paused and his face became sly. Yami met his gaze blankly as the Ministry added. "Though perhaps we need to be more cautious of you, we know where you are and that you can pass through anti-Shade spells."

Yami bared his teeth in a grin. "I am waiting for Voldemort to send some Death Eaters here. I have some interesting plans for them when they do arrive. This is my territory; anyone who is not welcome here will be treated as the enemy. And the enemies of Shades do not live long." Yami called up as many darking as he could.

They swarmed around the room. It was a fantastic effect; he stood still in human form with shadows filling the room. "Perhaps you should be more careful Minister; after all you still have two Death Eaters within your Ministry, not mention those others working for Voldemort against their will. Perhaps you should concentrate on your own people and let me worry about protecting Hogwarts. After all I seem to be doing a better job of it than you."

Yami called the darkings back and tweaked the walls again allowing the doors to reappear. The Minister lifted his head. "How do you know that there are Death Eaters in the Ministry?" He was suspicious.

Yami began to walk forwards; he was now wrapped up in a few hundred darkings as well as his own shadows. "Because I am much better at this than you are human. Now if you are not gone by a count of ten, you will be my lunch. I do not get much fear here, and I do miss the taste." Yami licked his lips and the Aurors pulled the Minister backwards.

Yami continued to advance until the humans had all left the building and were on their way to the front gate. Yami rolled his eyes at the door and dissolved his human form. A couple of people, Dumbledore included called out to him, but Yami ignored them all and left for the forest. That was enough human contact for today.

/You told the other Shades to attack the Death Eaters./ Yugi thought to him as Yami settled into the forest clearing where the darkings were waiting with more information.

/I informed them of Voldemort's hunt to find something to destroy us. If they decided that the best way to combat that is to kill the Death Eaters then there is nothing I can do about it./ Yami replied.

/I think that may be cheating./ Yugi replied with only patience in his voice. Yami settled back and began to process the information coming though. He would pass it onto Harry, Ron and Hermione in the morning.

* * *

_Yami really is a fun character to play with, even writing canon there is just so much you can do with him. He can be nasty or nice and he can swap between the two in a flash. _

_I'm getting back into the swing of this story again. I had hit a bit of a wall, but I have discovered the cure, just find someone for Yami to attack, it makes things better._


	21. Poisons

Chapter 21: Poisons

Yami made his way up to the dormitory. Ryou's reply to Yugi's letter about the Treaty sign had arrived. It had been nearly a week since they had sent it. Yugi had been wondering if the letter had gotten lost. Yugi was waiting up when Yami arrived and he opened the letter without speaking and read through it. Yami read over his shoulder, taking a little longer to translate the elfin language.

_I am sorry my reply has taken so long, but I had to look a few things up to answer your question.  
The Treaty Sign is a symbol which was used many years ago, before I was born, in the time of the last Queen. A treaty between elves and humans was made, a treaty of peace.  
At that time humans hunted elves and used our hairs for their wands. The magic from these wands was more powerful than other wands though their owners were, typically for one who killed an elf, also cursed with bad luck.  
The treaty was that humans would stop hunting the elves, destroy all elf-hair wands and peace would be between our races. In exchange for this the elves provided three gifts, a cloak made by the Mountain Dwellers, a stone from the Death Walkers and a wand from the Forest Elves.  
Unfortunately I know nothing about the first two gifts; however I do know that the wand was made with wood from a Great Tree and a hair from the elfin Queen herself. Because the hair was given voluntarily the wand was exceptionally powerful without the usual curse.  
As far as I know these three gifts have been lost or hidden, though the Treaty has been honoured since then; at least before Voldemort started killing our people.  
I hope this has helped, though what the Treaty Sign would be doing on a ring is beyond me. By the way it would be best if we restricted communication like this, the others are becoming a little distressed about the number of darkings arriving in the village. Ryou._

Yugi looked up as Yami finished reading. /Well what do you think?/

Yami shrugged, /I have no idea, I still do not think it is important, the ring could have belonged to one of the people who organised this treaty./

/I wish I had a better look, that could have been the stone, I did not even think to look at it./ Yugi sighed regretfully.

Yami tugged Yugi's hair. /You could not have known, you can always ask Dumbledore what he did with it./ Yugi looked at him and rolled his eyes. Yami grinned. /I should go, before they wake up./

Yugi nodded and folded the note into his spare shirts. Yami went back down to the common room and considered his plans for the day.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Harry opened his eyes to the sound of wrapping paper. He grinned over his pillow at Ron. The redhead was ripping apart the paper covering the presents sitting at the bottom of his bed. Yugi had been sitting on the window sill watching, but now made his way over to Harry to watch from the better vantage point of the end of Harry's bed. Harry slid out of bed and began to hunt through his trunk for the present he had gotten Ron. He discarded a few bits and pieces before he managed to find what he was looking for. The wrapping crackled as he pulled it out and tossed the package to Ron. "Cheers mate." Ron called. Neville, Dean and Seamus wandered over to look over Ron's presents.

Harry noticed that Yugi was frowning. He wriggled around and sat next to him. "What's wrong?" Yugi looked up and his frown deepened. He pointed at the presents.

Harry didn't see what was so confusing, but then he remembered that he hadn't mentioned to Yugi that Ron's birthday was coming up. "It's Ron's birthday." He said.

Yugi blinked and gave him a quizzical look. Harry stared at him blankly, Christmas he could sort of understand Yugi not having heard of. It was a human holiday after all, but birthdays? Surely that was something that everyone celebrated.

"Birthday, the day you were born, when you are officially another year older." Harry said, disbelievingly. Yugi blinked and then shrugged and shook his head. He slid back off the bed and began to prowl through the mess of wrapping paper and Harry's things on the floor.

Harry shook his head back and leant forwards to be impressed with Ron's various presents.

After a few minutes Harry lost interest and pulled out the Marauders Map. Tapping it with his wand he searched around the school and located all the people he knew. Dumbledore in his office, Hermione and Ginny were in the common room. Harry sighed faintly and watched Ginny's dot for a few minutes.

He was distracted slightly as Neville, Dean and Seamus left. Ron and Yugi were eating something and talking happily now that the others had left. Harry went back to the Map, Malfoy was in the Slytherin common room pacing, the only other people in there were Crabbe and Goyle.

Harry looked away, whatever Malfoy was planning this year it had sort of back burnered in his mind compared to the information Yami had been giving him on the Death Eaters movements and Voldemort's search for magic to fight the Shades. Yami had also begun giving them a little information about the spread of Shades across England. Harry hadn't had a dream about Voldemort in months, though he wasn't sure if that was because his head was so full of other information, or because of something that Yugi could be doing.

Harry scanned the rest of the map quickly. Yami, they had discovered, only showed up on the Map when he was in human form. It was as though the magic couldn't detect his shadows until they were condensed into something more solid and substantial.

Harry looked up at Ron and Yugi and blinked in confusion. Ron had a dreamy look on his face and Yugi was examining a chocolate cauldron, his face pale, one arm wrapped around his stomach. A cold rush went down Harry's spine. "Yugi where did you get those?"

Yugi looked up, and said in a sick voice, "In the wrapping paper, I thought they were Ron's." He flinched and doubled up.

"Harry, have you ever noticed Romilda Vane?" Ron asked in a far off dreamy voice. This confirmed Harry's suspicions. The chocolate cauldrons were the ones which had been laced with love potion and from the look on Yugi's face love potions were not good for him.

Harry scooped the shaking elf up and made for the door. "Come on Ron." He called.

Ron ambled to his feet and followed dreamily. "Have you seen her Harry?" Ron asked desperately. Harry rolled his eyes despite himself. He then paused. He could go to the Hospital Wing, or he could go straight to Slughorn who would probably be the one to brew the cure. Harry bit his lip. Slughorn would be quicker, but he needed a translator. "Yugi can you call Yami, tell him to meet us at Slughorn's office." Yugi nodded, his jaw was clenched and tears were leaking out of the corners of his eyes.

Harry was feeling desperate; he really hoped that the potion wasn't a toxic poison for Yugi because he should probably get Ron fixed up at the same time. "Yeah Ron, I know where she is too, I'll introduce you come on, quickly."

Harry ran down the stairs. Ginny and Hermione had vanished in the few minutes since Harry had been looking at the Map. Harry hurried past the few people sitting in the common room and, with Ron following close on his heels, went down the hall towards Slughorn's office.

They were just rounding the corner; Ron was doing a strange excited leap forward, when Yami appeared. The Shade didn't say a word, instead snatching a curled up Yugi from Harry's arms and singing softly to him in elfish. Yugi shook his head vigorously and then gave a very soft cry of pain. Harry's heart nearly stopped. Yami looked up, so Harry prepared himself for a look of absolute fury, but there was only worry in Yami's face.

"What did he eat?" Yami asked, falling into step with Harry and giving Ron a bemused look.

"Love potion, Ron took it too; hopefully Slughorn will have an antidote." Harry said.

"Antidote to what Harry? Where are we going, I thought you said we were going to see Romilda." Ron gave a desire filled sigh and Harry bit back a laugh. His head was spinning a bit, he was worried about Yugi, the elf was still curled up around himself in Yami's arms, but watching Ron lust after Romilda was funny.

Yami glanced at Ron, "I do not think this is a good idea, the antidote may make him worse."

Harry shuddered as he knocked anxiously on Slughorn's door. He hadn't thought of that. "What else can we do?"

He was interrupted by Slughorn opening his door. "Harry, what can I do for you?" His Professor looked nervous, probably wondering if Harry was back to ask questions about the Horcruxes again. "Professor, it's an emergency, Ron and Yugi have both eaten some love potion, but Yugi's reacting really badly to it." Yami pushed forwards. Slughorn leapt out of the way and the Shade passed into the room. Yugi was crying softly now. Harry pushed Ron into the room as Slughorn examined, very carefully, the elf in Yami's arms.

Harry hurried over, leaving Ron to his own devices. "Professor can you do something?"

Slughorn cleared his throat and looked down at Yami. "I'm not sure, I recognise the love potion by the effects on your friend, but it obviously doesn't affect elves like it affects humans. Anything I give him may make him worse."

Yugi was openly sobbing now. Yami smoothed his hair. "Use a bezoar." He said. Slughorn coughed, "Well that is not really appropriate, after a simple potion..." Slughorn trailed off as Yami's eyes flashed up.

Slughorn hurried over to a box and opened it. He hunted around for a moment before coming up with the small wrinkled stone which Harry had used in the lesson the other day. Slughorn held it in his hand for a moment, watching Yami warily.

Ever since that day after their apparition lesson where Yami had claimed Hogwarts as his territory and under his protection in front of half of the school, people had been talking. They were still terrified of the Shade, but they were a little less frightened of being attacked themselves.

Harry had even heard some of the fifth years discussing what would happen if the Death Eaters tried to attack Hogwarts. Everyone had bet on Yami winning that fight.

However slightly approving of a Shade and actually standing next to him and being comfortable were different and people still avoided contact with Yami. Harry grabbed the small stone from Slughorn and leant down to Yugi's eye height. He held out the stone. "Swallow this." Harry said. Yugi opened his eyes and after taking a few quick breaths he grabbed the stone and put it in his mouth. Harry watched him swallow and then go very still his eyes closed.

Harry's heart stopped and he reached out, Yami's hand caught his wrist. The Shade's fingers were like ice. "Wait." He said, Yugi's eyes opened and he smiled. Harry's heart restarted and then he fell forwards as something smashed into the back of his head. "Harry, you said she would be here." Ron yelled. "Where is she?" Harry rolled over, but Yami had already moved, hissing he grabbed Ron with ropes of shadows and smashed him against the wall, holding him there. "Antidote human and hurry." Yami snapped at Slughorn.

The portly professor started. "Right of course, just a moment." He pulled out a few vials from the same box the bezoar had come from and mixed them together. "Come now, drink this down." Slughorn held the vial up to Ron's mouth, but Harry's friend pressed his lips together and shook his head, "I won't drink it, what is it?"

Yami stepped forwards and leant in close to Ron. Harry smothered a smile, when Yami was that close all the hairs on your arms stood on end, warning you to run. Ron swallowed once and opened his mouth. Slughorn poured the potion into his waiting throat and everyone stepped back. Ron looked around at them for a moment, looking confused and then he looked mortified and sunk down onto the couch. "I'm an idiot."

Yami snorted and Harry laughed. "Don't worry mate no harm done; except to your pride." Ron glared at him.

Slughorn chuckled and with a wave of his wand. "Well I think this calls for a little celebration." Four glasses and a small cask floated over. One glass floated over to Harry, one to Ron, one to Slughorn and finally one to Yami. The Shade looked at the glass and then up at Slughorn. Yugi nudged him on the knee and smiled up at Slughorn.

"I think you may be a little young for this, Madame Rosmerta's Oak Matured Mead." Slughorn chuckled. Yami took the glass and looked inside. Ron was already taking a mouthful. Harry turned his glass around in his fingers and looked up at Slughorn. Perhaps this was going to be a good chance to get the memory off of Slughorn, if Harry just waited until he had drunk a bit more.

Harry's thoughts were interrupted as Ron began to choke. For a moment Harry rolled his eyes. Ron must have swallowed the alcoholic drink too quickly, but as Ron collapsed onto the ground Harry's amusement died. Yugi gave a startled cry and jumped off of his seat. Yami had grabbed Slughorn and was snarling at the deathly pale teacher.

Harry dropped to his knees next to Yugi. "What is it?" He asked desperately. Ron was choking, froth bubbling up to his lips, his face going blue. "Do something." Harry cried at Yugi. The elf could heal; surely he could fix a poisoning.

Yugi looked up at Harry and something passed through his eyes. Yami snapped around, "No!" He yelled, releasing Slughorn who collapsed and lunged for Yugi. Purple light laced with shining white exploded from Yugi's palms, it totally enveloped Ron. Harry fell backwards as the light blinded him. It lasted less than a moment and when Harry could see again, Ron was breathing easier, though his face was pale and his eyes were closed. Worse than that Yugi was lying next to him, his slim chest barely rising and falling, Yami scooped him up and checked him over.

Shadows were drifting away from his body. Harry took a few unsteady breaths and got uneasily to his feet. "Yami..." He started, he didn't get any further as Harry found himself flying through the air and crashing into a table. Harry grunted in pain.

"Now see here..." Slughorn tried, stepping forwards uncertainly, but Yami was apparently in no mood to be polite and with Yugi unconscious, there was no way to get the Shade to behave. "I suggest you call your healer witch to deal with Ron." Yami hissed at Slughorn, not even sparing him a glance.

Harry stumbled to his feet and pulled out his wand. "Yami, what?..."

"What, human, what? You very nearly killed him that is what, you are his parent his protector and you nearly kill him to stop a poison a human could have cured with their own magic." Yami spat.

Harry shivered, Yugi's protective spells were strong, but even they were having trouble standing up to Yami's fury. "I didn't mean..." Harry was more than a little frightened. He had never been on the receiving end of Yami's anger, now he knew what everyone was so scared off. Being called human was sort of the clincher. It was a title that Harry knew Yami reserved for those humans who he really despised and Harry didn't even know what he had done.

Yami interrupted again, "I do not care human." Yugi moaned softly in his sleep and Yami stopped. He looked up at Harry, his gleaming red eyes still flat with distrust and hate. However he held Yugi out to Harry. "I will be watching and you had best be careful." Harry took the sleeping elf from Yami and the Shade vanished in a furious flash of shadows.

The door to Slughorn's office opened and McGonagall, Dumbledore, Snape and Madame Pomfrey hurried through. All but Dumbledore knelt over Ron, Dumbledore turned to look at Harry. There was worry in his eyes so Harry forced a smile.

Harry hugged Yugi close, and wondered why the earth magic hadn't reacted to protect him. After all he was sure Yami had been close to killing him. Harry looked down at Yugi and guessed that the earth magic had somehow known that Yami would never kill Harry because that would also kill Yugi. Harry shook his head and cradled his elf as Ron was levitated off the ground and taken to the hospital wing.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Yami gathered up magic, ripped a tree from the ground and hurled it across the clearing. Birds exploded into the sky and several Bowtruckles snarled at him as their trees were knocked over. Yami hissed back at them.

This was what came from trusting a human. Any human. Dumbledore was proving incapable of protecting any of the people here and now Harry nearly kills Yugi. Yami started ripping pieces off the tree he had just uprooted. He daren't take it out on Harry in case he hurt Yugi more, besides the earth magic had already seared him once, but the human needed to learn. He was getting away with far too much. How dare he hurt Yugi and think that Yami would not take revenge.

Yami's shadows congealed into a partial human form. He would wait, Harry risked too much of himself now that he had another life depending on him for survival, but Yami would give him one more chance. He shook his head and deflated, he was getting soft in his old age.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Harry sat in the hospital wing and mused. Mr and Mrs Weasley had arrived and after fussing over Ron they had disappeared off to Dumbledore's office. Hermione and Ginny had arrived a few minutes after they had left and were now alternating between worrying about Ron and Yugi.

No one was quite sure how to deal with the unconscious elf. He was currently sleeping soundly, but no one was willing to give him anything for fear of making him worse again. Harry had answered Dumbledore and McGonagall's questions, told Madame Pomfrey that unless she wanted a visit from a seriously angry Shade she would do nothing to Yugi and then had settled down to wait. Yami may have been angry, but Harry knew that he wouldn't be able to stay away from Yugi for very long and Harry wanted to talk to him.

Harry still didn't really understand what Yami had been talking about; he hadn't done anything, just asked Yugi to heal. After all Yugi had healed Mr Weasley. Sure he had slept a lot afterwards, but something like that couldn't kill him, surely.

Madame Pomfrey bustled around the beds and was leaning over to check Yugi when Hagrid exploded through the door. He was carrying a dead something, Harry didn't look too closely at exactly what it was. "Are they alrigh'?" He asked.

Madame Pomfrey looked up, scandalised. "Please remain quiet." She demanded, and then squeaked as Yami's shadows swirled around Hagrid's bulky form and solidified into human form. Yami ignored everyone else in the room and sat next to Yugi. The elf shifted slightly in his sleep, his fingers reaching out towards the silent Shade. Yami took his hand, his eyes down and focused on Yugi. Harry realised that he was holding his breath and let it go.

"Yami." Harry said softly. Everyone was silent. Hermione and Ginny could obviously sense the cold heaviness in the air and were aware that Yami was not happy. "Yami please tell me what I did."

Yami's eyes lifted and Harry swallowed. "If you cannot see what you have done then you do not deserve him."

Harry looked down at Yugi and then back at Yami. "I just asked him to heal Ron, he's done it before; he healed Mr Weasley?"

Yami snorted. "That was a physical injury. You forget Harry that he is a child, and he had been poisoned not moments before. Healing takes the strength of the one who heals, in asking Yugi to heal Ron you were asking him to give strength which he did not have."

Harry shivered. "I didn't know Yami. I'm sorry."

Yami's eyes were still angry, "Then you should have asked before you demanded it of him."

Now it was Harry's turned to glare, "I didn't demand anything, I only asked him to heal Ron."

Yami hissed, his eyes burned bright and Hagrid shifted uncomfortably. "It is the same thing, you are his parent and he loves you. If you ask something of him, he will do it. That is how he works." Yami snarled and swirled to his feet, he stalked across the room. "You do not understand his people, what they need or what they are." Yami's deep voice filled the room and the atmosphere darkened.

Shadows filled the room. Harry shifted closer to Yugi; he had never seen Yami this mad and it scared him. He tried to call up the earth magic, but the magic remained stubbornly innate. Harry was shaking and was about to try pulling out his wand. Hermione and Ginny were huddled together and Hagrid got to his feet. Yami turned his fiery gaze on the half-giant. "Do not tempt me giant, I am not in the mood."

The door to the Hospital Wing opened and Dumbledore stepped through, followed closely by Mr and Mrs Weasley. All of them took one look around the Shade filled room and pulled out their wands. Dumbledore turned to the part of Yami which remained solid. "Yami, whatever has angered you please refrain from frightening my students."

Yami hissed, "My anger towards Harry is nothing compared to what I feel towards you Dumbledore. These children are under your protection and Ron is now the second to fall to an attack."

Dumbledore's wand lowered, Harry relaxed slightly now that Yami's fury wasn't directed at him. However he looked down at Yugi. Yami was right; he really didn't know anything about the elves. The fact that he had managed to do things right so far was mainly luck and Yami. Now he had nearly killed Yugi. Dumbledore spoke softly, his pale blue eyes sad. "I assure you that we are doing everything possible to determine the source of these attacks."

Yami's eyes narrowed. "Perhaps you should be looking closer at your own, the tainting on the human child known as Malfoy has increased."

Harry looked up. Malfoy was behind this?

Dumbledore's look of sadness vanished to be replaced with a warning look. "I will take that under advisement, I cannot sense this tainting. However I ask that you leave Draco Malfoy to me."

Yami snorted and Yugi muttered something in his sleep. It was the first noise that the elf had made since he had fallen asleep. The shadows in the room lightened as Yami drew them back and wove them into his human form. Yami returned to his seat on the bed. Harry leant closer, brushing a strand of blonde hair from Yugi's eyes.

Yami rumbled something. Mrs Weasley stepped closer, "I'm sure he will be fine." She said. "And when he wakes up we'd like to thank him."

Mr Weasley laid a hand on her arm. "Now dear, I don't think this is..."

Mrs Weasley interrupted him, "Of course it is. He helped you, he saved Ron. We are starting to owe Yugi as much as we owe Harry."

Harry opened his mouth to argue, he really didn't want the Weasley's to think that they owed him anything and he was sure that Yugi would feel the same. However everything was interrupted by Hagrid sidling out of the room. He muttered goodbye and departed. Madame Pomfrey hurried out from her office. "Right everyone needs to leave now please, Headmaster." She nodded to Dumbledore and her eyes flickered to Yami. "Everyone.

Yami was still sitting watching Yugi, "Harry and I will remain."

Dumbledore shook his head, "Yugi will be fine here, I can assure you."

Yami ignored him, "Yugi needs his parent now, and I do not trust Harry to do the right thing. It is time he learnt what he should have learnt last year."

Dumbledore looked at them both before he nodded and everyone left. Hermione took one moment to tweak the blankets over Ron and smooth Yugi's hair before she said goodbye. Harry gulped and looked over at Yami. Madame Pomfrey shook her head disapprovingly, but returned to her office. Yami shifted his weight so that he was lying on the bed instead of sitting. "You will learn Harry or Yugi will die. Now close your eyes and focus your mind."

* * *

_Whoa, not entirely sure where Yami's rant came from. _


	22. Recovery

_This chapter was just working for me, however as I had to finish three assignments at the same time I was hopping back and forth between the four projects. _

_I believe that I have just discovered the most effective way of doing homework._

Chapter 22: Recovery

Yami watched Harry focus, the human's forehead was creased with concentration. Finally he growled and opened his eyes. "It isn't working." Harry snapped and got to his feet.

Yami glared at him. "Try again; you need to give him as much energy as you can."

Harry dropped back into his chair and closed his eyes again, trying to relax. They had been trying this for nearly three hours. Yami was trying to teach Harry how to send his own energy along the sire bond to Yugi to help the elf to recover. Harry had never learnt to sense Yugi with that bond, but as Yugi's parent Harry needed to be aware of Yugi's health.

Yugi had told Yami to leave Harry be last year and now he was paying for it. Something that Yami just wasn't going to stand for. Harry gritted his teeth, "I can't feel anything."

Yami stared at him. How could he not feel Yugi, the elf was so bright he burned?

"All I can feel is the earth magic." Harry sighed and opened his eyes. "This isn't working." He slumped over in his chair.

Yami jumped to his feet and took a step towards the young human. As Harry's eyes widened the earth magic warmed under Yami's feet. The Shade spun on his toes and stalked toward the window. The earth magic cooled again as Yami's threat to Harry faded.

Yami gave the nearest wall a cold look. The magic was the only reason that Yami hadn't attacked Harry. He had been way beyond the point of anger where he was rational enough to think that hurting Harry would hurt Yugi. It hadn't been until the earth magic had seared at his shadows in warning that his survival instincts had kicked in and he had backed off. Yami rolled his darking around in his fingers to calm himself. The darking nudged him, apparently it had something to tell him, but Yami had told it to wait, he had to deal with Harry first.

"Yami, I'm sorry, but I really don't know what I am looking for." Harry said. Yami turned to see Harry leaning over Yugi. The elf was deeply unconscious, so much so that Yami could get nothing more than a general idea of his health, it was as though they were very far apart, but there was no way to get closer.

Yami turned and sat back down on the bed. Ron muttered in his sleep nearby. The human was doing much better than Yugi; the potions that the witch gave him helped him to recover. Nothing but Harry figuring this out would help Yugi to recover.

Yami sighed. "Try again. It is like reaching for the earth magic, but higher."

Harry opened one eye and looked at him. "This isn't going to work."

Yami hissed at him. As Harry flinched and went back to meditating, Yami finally allowed the darking to trickle up to his shoulder and report in. Yami listened with interest and as the darking finished he burst out laughing.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Harry jerked upright as Yami started laughing. This was different to most of the laughter he had heard from the Shade, it was full of actual amusement and he was smiling.

"What?" Harry asked a little warily. Yami hadn't totally calmed down yet and he didn't seem pleased at Harry's lack of progress. Harry was trying, but this was hard. It had taken him ages to get the hang of calling up the earth magic and this was even harder than that.

Yami chuckled, the sound a lot like rumbling thunder in the distance. "Voldemort is still looking for a way to combat Shade magic, so he sent out several Death Eaters to capture a Shade. He picked very poorly." Yami snickered softly. Harry tilted his head slightly, but his question was interrupted by the Hospital Wing door opening.

Dumbledore, McGonagall, Slughorn, Snape and Hermione came in. Hermione immediately went over to Ron and sat on the chair next to him. The four teachers stood at the ends of the beds. "Harry we need to discuss your timetable."

Yami stretched out his legs, "Harry will remain here until Yugi is better." He met Dumbledore's eyes without fear, naturally. Harry didn't know whether to be happy or not about not going to classes, he got the feeling homework might pile up if he didn't go.

Dumbledore shook his head, "Harry has to attend his classes..."

Yami cut him off, "If Harry leaves Yugi dies and then I kill all of you." There was no mistaking the truth in the threat. Yami stretched absently and got to his feet, "Besides I have something for you Dumbledore, something which will probably appear in your news tomorrow." Yami turned and looked out of the window and fell silent, haloed in sunlight the delicately woven shadows that made up his body became once again apparent.

Dumbledore coughed, "What is the news?" McGonagall and Slughorn were both staring at Yami. Snape had gone pale, Harry wondered why.

"Voldemort has decided that to fight a Shade he needs a Shade and he understands enough about us to know that to fight me he needs a blood-eyes, an old Shade. So he is attempting to capture one. So far he has tried to capture three. Voldemort has now lost a further ten Death Eaters, and if any of my brothers did not know about his plans before then they certainly do now."

"What does that mean?" Hermione asked and then ducked her head slightly as the teachers looked at her.

Yami tilted his head and stepped away from the window, once again he was surrounded with shadows, "It means that the Shades are more likely to attack and kill any Death Eaters that they come across. However, we are not very good at distinguishing between wizard-humans, so I recommend that you warn the other humans not to trespass into Shade territory. They might not get the chance to regret it."

Yami prowled over to Yugi's bed and took his seat again, "Perhaps you should also warn the giant-mage." Yami paused. He seemed to have to really try to get it out. "If the humans entice the Shades to go on a hunt then he will also be in danger, the elfin spell will prevent a single Shades magic from harming him, but if he is caught in the blast of magic which occurs when Shades meet then the spell will shatter."

Dumbledore nodded sombrely. "I will pass the warning on to those who require it." Dumbledore's eyes dropped to Yugi, "How is he?"

Yami growled softly, "He will recover, so long as Harry remains nearby and learns what I have to teach him."

"What about lessons?" McGonagall asked, "Harry is in his sixth year it is important." Yami's red eyes showed no interest at all, Harry could have told them that Yami couldn't have cared less.

"Professor McGonagall is right Harry. You can't miss out on too many lessons." Hermione told him.

Harry rolled his eyes at her, typical. "Can't you just tell me what you are going to go through in the next week and I can do everything here?" Harry tried.

Snape sneered, "No Potter, I don't think so."

"Now Severus, I think perhaps we need to make an exception this once. Yami if Harry learns what he needs to how long until Yugi wakes up and Harry is able to return to lessons?" Dumbledore asked.

Yami tilted his head and considered, "Four days, at least."

Dumbledore nodded. "Well two of those will be a weekend so it will not matter. Done. Harry you will remain here, you will still need to undergo all the assignments however. Is this acceptable?" Harry nodded, as did the teachers, though Harry could see that Snape wasn't pleased.

Dumbledore ushered the other three teachers out leaving Hermione with Harry. Hermione gave Yami a slightly wary look. "People have been talking." She said. "Everyone has heard that Ron was poisoned, but no one knows what happened to Yugi. People have been guessing that he was poisoned as well." She glanced at Yami. "I haven't said anything; but people are really worried that you will take revenge."

Yami leant back and looked at Harry. "The other children have nothing to do with this. Begin again Harry."

Harry moaned and closed his eyes, "Can't I take a break?"

Yami's only reply was a low snarl. So Harry tried to reach out for Yugi again.

"What are you doing?" Hermione asked. Harry was too focused on what he was doing to answer. He could feel the earth magic, but nothing else.

Yami answered instead. "He needs to learn to give Yugi some of his strength, when Yugi is conscious and close to Harry the energy moves across their bond automatically, when Yugi is unconscious Harry needs to send the energy across. However Harry has never learnt to sense the bond so Yugi is not getting any energy."

Hermione was quiet for a moment, "So what will happen if Harry can't do this?"

Yami growled softly, totally disrupting Harry's concentration. Harry peeked through his eyelids; Yami had coiled an arm protectively around Yugi.

Hermione had fallen silent, Ron muttered in his sleep. "I don't remember anything like that in Arkano's memoirs." She said thoughtfully.

Harry opened his eyes, "What do you mean?" Yami glared at him, but stayed silent.

Hermione shifted, "Well, Arkano never said that he had to actively give Marnia any energy."

Yami looked a little bemused, "Who are these people?"

"Arkano was the last human to take care of an elf child and Marnia was the elf." Hermione told him.

Yami tilted his head, "I doubt that this Marnia was ever harmed like Yugi is." He turned his head, "Focus, Harry."

Harry suppressed a groan and closed his eyes again; his brain felt like it had been fried. Hermione was explaining everything she had read in the memoirs last year to Yami. Harry let his mind wander, he knew that he needed to learn this, but he really didn't know how to go about it.

Harry reached absently for the earth magic; Yami had said that this was like calling up the earth magic. The magic twitched, but didn't rise. Harry concentrated harder and noticed something else. It was a spark; separate to the magic, but so close that it was almost a part of it. Harry wondered if he could call to it like he called to the earth magic. He reached out and the spark leapt to him as though it had been waiting. All of a sudden he was aware of a great bone deep exhaustion that wasn't his.

Harry's heart raced as he realised that he had finally managed to reach Yugi though the bond. "Yami." He said.

"Send your strength to him Harry." Yami sounded neither surprised nor excited that Harry had succeeded.

"How?" Harry asked.

"Will it."

Harry focused on the spark again and after a bit of struggling pushed some of his strength into the spark. Harry wasn't sure if it worked, but when he opened his eyes again he felt a little tired. Yami leant over Yugi and brushed the elf's hair. Harry looked at him as well. Was it his imagination or was Yugi breathing a little easier.

Yami looked up and nodded, "You will need to keep it up, but you have learnt faster than I expected." There was still no approval in Yami's deep voice, Harry knew that he would have to do something special to get back into Yami's good books. Harry settled back in his chair and once again reached out for the small spark which was Yugi. He was determined to take less time than Yami expected and to get Yugi back to full health as fast as he could.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Yami curled up in shadow form in the corner of the room. It had been two days since Yugi and Ron had been poisoned. Ron had woken this morning. Yugi still slept, though the elf was very much better and so long as Harry continued to press energy onto him he would probably wake in a day or two. Yami turned his tired attention to Harry.

Hermione, Ginny, Neville and Luna were sitting around Ron's bed filling him in on the happenings in the last few days. Harry was now good enough at reaching out to Yugi that he could do it without focussing all his attention on the task.

The darkings swirled through him, reporting in once again. Voldemort was restricting his attempts to trap Shades. Especially after he had tried to talk to one and had ended up nearly being killed himself. The giants were swarming. Dwrng had managed to contact many of them.

Giants would follow one of their mages, so in one foul-swoop Voldemort had lost one of his biggest assets. However after talking to Dumbledore it turned out that despite all of Dwrng's efforts the giants refused to fight with the other wizards. Therefore they were now out of the battle altogether. Yami had to admit that he wasn't particularly upset about that.

The Order had again been busy. They were investigating, quietly, the Death Eaters within the Ministry and locating any Yami was able to pinpoint. Yami had passed none of this onto Harry, and he had held a few things back from Dumbledore as well.

After hearing about Harry's suspicions of the human child Malfoy Yami had tracked him down and set a darking to following him. Yami had no idea exactly what it was that the human was doing, but he spent a great deal of his time in the room which had been used last year for the DA meetings playing with a rather complicated piece of human magic.

Yami twitched uncomfortably and shoved all thoughts out of his head. He needed to rest and for the moment with Yugi comfortable and safe he could catch up on his rest. Without Yugi conscious and well Yami was relying on his strength reserves, Yugi couldn't spare any of his Light. And despite his anger with Harry Yami still restricted his fear spells as best he could. Although he had sneaked off last night and sat in the snake houses dorms for a few hours, giving them all nightmares.

The next morning Yami swirled his shadows around the silent Hospital Wing. Ron and Harry were still asleep, Yugi still unconscious. The door opened and the witch-nurse hurried in. Yugi's mind twitched, Yami took human form politely. He still didn't understand why humans thought that being in human form was more polite, but Yugi could insist very loudly for someone who was unconscious. The elf had become much more active in the last day and it was making Yami feel a lot better.

The witch started slightly and her hand went immediately to the pocket where her wand was kept. Yami watched her without moving, her fear tickled his senses and hungry he latched onto it.

There was a stirring behind him and Harry rolled over and fell onto the floor, the movement was enough to distract Yami so that his conscious grip on the witch dissolved.

Harry moaned and picked himself up. Ron awoke, looked down at Harry and laughed. "Nice mate, I thought that was my trick?"

Harry rubbed his head and sat back on the bed, "Ha ha. Morning Yami."

Yami snorted and dissolved his human form again, the witch made her way over to Ron and did her usual morning check over. The human shifted uncomfortably; even a day after he had woken he was unsettled and ready to leave. Yami didn't blame him. This room was incredibly boring, at least Ron had spent the last few days asleep.

Yugi muttered in his sleep. Harry's reaction was instant he rolled back out of bed and leant over the elf. "Do you think he will wake up today Yami? He feels better." Harry said, shifting from one foot to the other.

Yami made his way over to the bed and settled around the bed-head. "Perhaps, continue to give him energy. He will refuse it when he no longer requires it."

/I don't need any./ For the first time in three days Yugi's soft voice reached out to Yami's mind.

The Shade almost collapsed in delight. /Are you alright?/

/Fine./ There was a sigh in Yugi's voice. /You frightened Harry./ There was no accusation, merely a statement of fact.

None-the-less Yami shifted uncomfortably. /He nearly killed you./

/I wouldn't have given any more than I could./ Yugi told him, now that their bond was opening more Yami could sense that his elf was still very tired.

/Sleep more Yugi, you don't have to get up now, and please accept the strength from Harry, he can spare it./

/I will if you let him go back to his lessons./ Yugi replied, though Yami could sense him accepting the energy already.

Yami twisted, he really would have preferred Harry to remain nearby, the sire-bond was very limited by distance, and energy could only be transferred if the parent and child were within a few yards of each other. Yugi pressed him. /Fine./

Yami reformed his human form next to the bed. Ron looked up and grinned at him. "How's Yugi."

Yami tilted his head non-committally. "Harry you can return to your lessons today, Yugi is better, but you will return here during your breaks."

Harry looked up, "You mean it's all worked? That's great!" Harry was grinning wildly.

Yami narrowed his eyes, "It has worked, but he is still very tired. You will still need to give him energy for a few days, but he will be able to return to your dorm with you tonight."

Harry nodded, "Alright." He hesitated as Yami began to dissolve his shadows. "And Yami, I'm sorry, I'll try to do better."

Yami nodded and slunk off into his shadowy corner again.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Harry raced back up to the Hospital Wing, after spending the last few days being constantly consciously aware of Yugi suddenly being without that contact made him edgy. He'd spilt his potion again, and earned a tongue click from Slughorn. His potions Professor seemed reluctant to do anything more despite it being common knowledge that Yami remained in the Hospital Wing with Yugi.

As Harry ran full tilt around the corner he slammed into someone. "Sorry." Harry said and as he sat up looked at the person who had knocked over. It was Luna.

Harry grinned at her, "My bad Luna, how are you?" He hadn't seen Luna in a while, she had come up to the Hospital Wing to see Ron once, but since then she had disappeared. According to Ginny she had been more distracted than normal.

"Hello Harry, how is Yugi?" Luna got to her feet and with a wave of her wand gathered her books together into a pile.

"He's good..." Harry frowned slightly and noticed something, Luna felt like earth magic. Harry had no idea how he knew, but somehow something was telling him that Luna had been using a lot of earth magic lately. "Luna have you..."

For the first time since Harry had known her, Luna cut him off. "Sorry Harry I have to go, I'll see you later." She turned and wandered off. Harry shook his head and after a moment's deliberation continued on to the Hospital Wing.

Ron was sitting up in bed stuffing his face. His friend waved and grinned around his mouthful of food. Harry however only had eyes for Yugi.

The little elf was awake, his big purple eyes still sleepy. Those luminescent orbs lifted and his face broke out into a huge grin. With a delighted laugh Yugi attempted to leap out of bed and run to Harry. Yami however swirled out from near the bed and caught the elf, holding him down and keeping him on the bed. Harry hurried over; now that he was close he could sense that Yugi was better, much better. "Yugi, I'm so glad you're awake." Harry swept Yugi up into a bone crushing hug and the elf returned it with delight.

Harry glanced around the room as he sat on the bed, Yugi on his lap. There was no one else in the room. Yami's shadows solidified and he perched himself on the end of the bed, his scarlet eyes focused on Yugi.

Yugi looked up into Harry's face calmly, "I am much better Harry thank you."

"No charge." Harry laughed, "Yami helped, he showed me how to give you energy. You really should have taught me that before." Harry chided him gently.

Yugi shrugged, "I did not think you would need to learn it."

Yami snorted. Yugi rolled his eyes.

While Yugi ate, the three humans filled the elf in on everything that had happened in the last few days. The upcoming Quidditch match against Slytherin proved to be an intense topic for conversation. Hermione insisted that Ron wouldn't be well enough to play while Ron insisted he was.

Bigger than that was Yugi's instance that Harry not play either, for no reason other than he didn't want Harry to get hurt. Yami stayed right out of it all, though Harry caught a smile on the Shade's face more than once during the ensuing argument.

Finally they settled it, Ron could play if Yugi checked him over and pronounced him fit and Harry simply shouted Yugi down that if the Captain wouldn't play because it was dangerous then there was no point to the game anyway.

Yugi went to sleep after that. Though he pretended to sulk Harry could sense along the bond that he was happy.


	23. Plans and Thoughts

Chapter 23: Plans and Thoughts

Harry carried Yugi down to breakfast. Hermione had typically beaten them down and was eating breakfast, her face hidden behind the Daily Prophet. Harry set Yugi on the bench next to her and then sat down himself.

Hermione looked over at him, "There have been more deaths." She said.

Ginny sat next to Ron as her brother started to pile up his plate. Harry was distracted as Ginny smiled at him, he grinned back at her. "Who's dead?" Ron asked, breaking Harry's daydream with a weird look.

Hermione shook out the paper, "Two more Death Eaters, this time it was definitely a Shade, they were killed in the presence of an Auror who was tracking them." She scanned through the article again quickly. "Apparently, he followed them out of London and for a while nothing happened, then all of a sudden a Shade just attacked. The Auror is in St Mungo's recovering from Shade magic." Hermione looked up, "I suppose that just means that he took a face full of fear spells and freaked out."

Ron snorted, "Pretty pathetic if you ask me, I reckon that any of us would stand up to a Shade better than them."

Hermione looked up again, "I'm not so sure, after all it's not like Yami throws his fear spells at us." Yugi nodded.

Conversation was interrupted by a loud hoot and a handsome owl alighted on a nearby jug handle. The owl studied Ron coldly and hooted at him. Ron looked up, the owl held out his leg. Ron blinked in confusion; Yugi giggled and made a soft cooing noise. The owl turned its head and hooted again. Ron removed the letter and the owl took off. Yugi turned his attention back to his plate.

Ron frowned at the letter, "Hey Yugi, Yami anywhere nearby?"

"I am here." Everyone in the vicinity jumped. Harry was interested to note that though people looked frightened they no longer pulled away from Yami. Ron held out the envelope, "It's from Fred and George."

Yami nodded and opened the envelope; he let the envelope fall to the table. He read through the page with interest. He shook his head and turned the page over, "Do you have a quill?" he asked Hermione.

Hermione handed one over without even looking up from her paper. Yami immediately scribbled quickly onto the piece of parchment. A flick of his fingers dispatched the paper in a swirl of shadows. Ginny looked over her shoulder at him. "So why are Shades attacking people now?" She asked. Lavender and Parvati gasped and stared wide eyed at Yami. Everyone leant closer eyes focused on Yami.

The Shade ignored them and lifted an eyebrow at Ginny. "We have always attacked humans, the only reason the attacks are being noticed now is that humans have suddenly remembered that we exist."

"So the anti-Shade spells still work?" Seamus asked, "Then how'd you get into Hogwarts."

Yami tilted his head, shadows spread around his form as they always did when he wasn't concentrating on keeping them together. This was enough to make people lean back, but curiosity was getting the better of most of the Gryffindors and some of the nearby Ravenclaws. "There is an exception to every rule."

Hermione looked up and cut off everyone else's questions. "There are also warnings for people to check their anti-Shade spells and to make sure that they are still functioning properly. Can Shades pass through old spells?"

Yami tilted his head. "As far as I have been able to determine the spells are replenished before they get old enough to allow us access. However I have no doubt that if the spells were not replenished then they would eventually fade."

Hermione nodded, "People have being writing in wondering how the spells around their homes are going to be effective if the spells at Hogwarts can't keep a Shade out."

Yami shrugged. Harry knew the earth magic was allowing Yami in, but he stayed silent. He still wasn't sure about just how much he was supposed to say about the elemental magic. After all most of the people sitting at the table new about earth magic and could even use it to a degree, still Yugi seemed very wary about talking about earth magic around people.

"Maybe the Hogwarts spells just got old?" Someone suggested.

Yami turned his head and shadows unravelled and twined through the crowd. Several people fell out of their seats in an attempt to get out of Yami's way.

The Shade shifted his entire form in a way that Harry had never seen him do. The shadows which swelled around him turned and collected on the other side of the table retaking human form even as the original form disappeared. "Perhaps you should learn to mind your own business human." Yami suggested in a dangerous voice.

Yugi shook his head and clicked his tongue. Yami glanced down at Yugi and hesitated. There was a further hustle of movement as someone's magic went haywire across the room and by the time anyone had looked back Yami was gone.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Yami found a private tree in the Forbidden Forest and pulled Fred and George's letter out.

_Well it took a bit of effort, but we managed to put that spell into the new products. We've got twelve of them, and we've hidden them inside the new shield charms the Ministry ordered. The rest is up to you. Although would you mind if we started selling those personalised Shades now, George and I get the feeling that they are going to be big sellers. Fred_

Yami set the letter down on the branch. He had sent back a reply thanking the twins for their help and telling them that they were welcome to start selling the new products. More interesting was the news that the next link in his spy chain was up and running.

He had given the twins twelve inebriated darkings passed off as twelve Shade spells. He had told them to hide the darkings within some of the spells that the Ministry ordered from the twins. By the time the darkings arrived at the Ministry they would have recovered from their overdose of earth and Shade magic and would immediately seek out the tainting on the Death Eaters and those who had been spelled to follow their commands.

Yami was more than a little proud of them. He really did have the best trained group of darkings of all the Shades in England. Now Yami needed to tell Dumbledore to pass on the message to keep an eye out for people at the Ministry who were being stalked by sparkling shadows.

Yami had to admit that feeding the darkings on earth magic had been a stroke of genius. Darkings didn't feed on earth magic; the power wasn't generally present in a way that they could access. As such when they did get it the results could be spectacular. Yami headed back up to the castle, this would prove to be an interesting interview.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Harry dropped down into his seat at the breakfast table, usually the morning of a Quidditch match was exciting, but today Harry was feeling glum. Yami had reported in from his spies again. For the first time since the start of the year Yami had reported in with bad news, he had lost track of Voldemort.

Yami himself seemed incredibly put out with this and had seemed distracted while he reported that the Death Eaters were still moving around researching ways of fighting Shade magic as well as the usual recruiting. Harry pushed his bacon around his plate while Yugi poured himself some of the nearby juice.

He felt as though everyone was waiting for something, as though the whole world was holding its breath and Harry was dreading what would happen when everyone exhaled.

Added to all his ever evolving problems was how to get the memory off of Slughorn. His Potions professor had taken to avoiding Harry at all costs and every attempt that Harry had made to get him alone to talk to him had proved fruitless. Ron plonked onto the seat opposite them dragging Harry from his thoughts.

Harry smiled at Ron, "How you feeling today?" Ron still has slight troubles with nerves, but he seemed to be getting over them.

Ron grinned back, "Fine, ready to kick some Hufflepuff butt."

Hermione snorted and Yami, who had followed her into the Great Hall chuckled. Yami had replaced leather with robes and scarf and if it weren't for his long tri-coloured hair and flashing scarlet irises he almost could have blended in with the students who milled around him.

Hermione sat down next to them and Yami leant easily against the wall behind Ron. Several third years who had been walking in their direction immediately turned on their heels and went the long way around the table. On seeing Yami come in everyone nearby had left their seats and departed.

The attacks on Death Eaters had bolstered people's confidence that Yami wasn't about to attack them. However yesterday evening three non-Death Eaters had been attacked and killed by a Shade when it was discovered that the anti-Shade spells on their home were too weak to withstand a determined Shade. Now people were more wary than ever.

Yami had re-explained that most Shades couldn't differentiate between Death Eater and normal wizards so they would attack anyone who ventured into their territories. Yami had impressed on all three of them, Neville and Ginny the importance of staying outside Shade territories where they would be safe.

Yami's map had been carefully copied and each of them now held a copy to follow the escape route which would get them either to London or to the nearby elfin territory where no Shade but Yami and Bakura would dare go.

"Dumbledore is gone again." Yami said casually.

Harry looked up and blinked, "How do you know?"

Yami just looked at him. Harry grinned sheepishly and pushed back his plate. He really wasn't hungry. Yugi looked up at him and frowned slightly. "I'm fine." Harry told him. He was certain that Yugi was thinking that Harry wasn't up for the Quidditch match.

Admittedly he wasn't feeling at his best, Yugi still required a little flow of energy and Harry was stuck with the constant feeling of being ready for bed, but there was no way he was going to miss their match.

He was the Captain and so far they were on the top of the ladder, he was going to keep it that way. "Can you let us know when he gets back?" Harry asked, he was still trying to be as polite as possible to Yami. He wasn't sure if he was back in the Shade's good books yet. Yami tilted his head, Harry nodded to Ron and the two of them left to go back to the dorms to get their things for the match.

Harry searched through his trunk in his dorm. Ron was hopping from foot to foot. "Look just go, I'll catch up as soon as I find my gloves." Harry snapped at him.

"Alright see you there." Ron had obviously been waiting for that he was out the door and down the stairs before Harry could even blink. Harry shook his head and tipped a few more things out of his trunk. Finally he managed to locate both of his gloves so he pulled them on as he ran down the stairs and wound his way through the corridors.

As he hurtled around a corner Harry nearly ran into Malfoy. The Slytherin stepped backwards, fear flashing in his eyes for a moment. Harry stopped, panting slightly from the run. "What are you doing Malfoy?" He accused.

Malfoy stopped and stepped back, "None of your business Potter." He snapped back and shoved past Harry. Harry spun around and watched him divided; he really wanted to know what Malfoy was doing, especially walking so purposefully away from a Quidditch match. Harry hovered indecisively for a few moments before his duty to his team pulled him away and he ran for the Quidditch pitch.

Harry skidded into the changing rooms just in time to throw on his Quidditch robes, hoist his broom onto his shoulder and lead everyone out onto the pitch. The roar of the crowd was as deafening as always, but it was dulled to Harry's ears as he considered what on earth Malfoy had been sneaking off to.

Madame Hooch's whistle sounded and Harry pushed off the ground he soared into the air, his eyes scanning for the flashing glint of the Golden Snitch. All his worries faded away in the rush of the air through his hair, the snickering whoosh of a Bludger as he dove to get out of its way. The Gryffindor's screamed their delight as Ron made a third spectacular save. Harry's eye winnowed around the pitch, he located Yami, Yugi, Hermione, Neville and Luna standing in their own little circle, people reluctant to get to close to Yami.

Harry turned his broom and after taking a moment to check on their progress, Gryffindor 50 Hufflepuff 0, he went back to looking for the Snitch.

The game got rough. The Hufflepuffs weren't known for their vicious playing style, but today they seemed determined to beat the Gryffindors. Harry dodged four Bludgers smashed his way and finally caught the blink of gold. Harry turned into a dive and shot after the tiny winged ball. His fingers reached out and out of the corner of his eye he noticed the Hufflepuff Seeker diving after him.

As Harry dove a strange tingling rang through his entire body and Harry hesitated. Then there was a loud thump and colours smashed their way through Harry's vision as his head exploded with pain. He somersaulted over his broom handle, just managing to catch hold of the end with one hand.

Harry's head spun and he noticed the Bludger which had hit him ricochet off after the Hufflepuff Seeker who had shot after the Snitch. Harry tried to pull himself up onto his broom, but every movement made his head throb harder. Screams echoed faintly from the crowds and then Harry's fingers slipped and he was dropping to earth.

Air whooshed past his ears and Harry prepared himself for hitting the ground. There was a second sharp whistling and his decent slowed as Harry's vision was blocked out by twisting shadows. Moments later, human and Shade hit the ground with a solid thump and both lay still, Harry winded by the fall and Yami attempting to gently untangle himself from Harry. Harry took a couple of shaky breaths and noted that there appeared to be no broken bones, though his head was pounded unmercifully.

"Good thing you have quick reflexes." Harry gasped out at Yami. The Shade grumbled and managed to wriggle out from underneath Harry.

"Are you alright?" Yami asked. Red eyes shimmered into appearance and through the dark twisting shadows which held them Harry could see teachers and his friends running across the grass.

"Fine, thanks." Harry hissed as he tried to sit up and his vision spun. His glasses had been knocked askew and there was a crack through the right lens. All that didn't help with the spinning which accompanied the sharp knock to his head.

"Harry are you alright?" Hermione dropped to her knees on one side of him, setting a wide-eyed and fretting Yugi down. McGonagall stood on the other side, motioning Harry's teammates back. "Potter are you alright?" She asked.

"I'm fine really." Harry said. This was mostly aimed at Yugi who was now glowing softly as he tried to grab Harry's head. Once again close enough to feel Yugi's strength along the bond Harry knew that he wasn't really up to healing. "Yugi don't, just let Madame Pomfrey do it."

Yugi's hands dropped to his sides and his eyes filled with tears, face dejected. "Sorry." Harry tried; really no matter what he did he was going to upset someone here. However seeing as Yami had probably just saved his life and the Shade was considerably scarier than Yugi, Harry was going to try and keep him happy.

Yami's shadows twirled into human form. "Yugi stop." He said firmly, the elf stamped a foot down, but went to Yami who picked him up.

Harry tried to get to his feet, but McGonagall snapped at him. "Stay Potter, Madame Pomfrey will be here in a moment."

Harry looked up; Madame Hooch had called a stop to the match. "I'm fine Professor, just a bump. We can go on with the game." Yugi gave an irritated snort.

McGonagall looked at him and nodded, "Quite right, Potter the match can continue without you."

Harry sat upright ignoring the return of the throbbing in his skull. "But Professor, we can't play without a Seeker."

Harry was certain that their Head of House wanted to agree, however she shook her head and replied. "It doesn't matter Potter." Harry slumped back down again and glanced at Yugi. If the elf healed him then he would be alright to continue playing. However he would have to face Yami's wrath and Harry had no desire to go through that again. Yugi looked between Shade and human and rolled his eyes.

He then turned those devastating amethyst pools on Yami. Harry had no idea what Yugi was hoping to get out of pleading with Yami, but while the other humans around him watched Madame Pomfrey hurry across the pitch, Harry watched Yami.

The Shade looked down at Yugi and Harry noticed the faint flickers in their faces which told that they were talking silently to each other.

Yami grumbled, but began to look around. As Harry's view was blocked by the arrival of the school nurse and her questions, shadows began to drift off and around the stadium.

Madame Pomfrey waved her wand around Harry's head and his ears filled with buzzing. Something nudged his hand. Harry looked down, trying to be subtle about it. A tiny shadow was holding a struggling Snitch. Harry blinked in confusion and as the shadow rubbed against his hand again he took the Snitch from its cool depths.

"What do you have Potter?" McGonagall said.

"It seems Harry did manage to catch the ball before he fell." Yami drawled.

Harry stared at the Snitch in his hand. There was a sudden surge of shouts from the Hufflepuff team, insisting that Harry couldn't have caught the Snitch.

Harry sat silently until Madame Pomfrey allowed him to stand up. He wobbled and nearly fell over, but Yami caught his arm and steadied him. Harry latched onto the much shorter Shade until his head stopped spinning. "Right, Hospital Wing." Madame Pomfrey said, "Now Potter." She added when he opened his mouth to argue.

Harry grumbled but followed her out of the stadium. Yami followed at his side with Yugi singing softly at him.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Yami settled once again into the darkest corner of the Hospital Wing. Though Harry was grateful for his rapid reflexes, Yami wished he had been faster. Harry had been falling too fast for Yami's shadows to catch him effectively and all he had really done was slow down the fall. Now they were back in the Hospital Wing, where Yami had been hoping not to go back to again for some time.

What worried Yami more had been the sudden surge of earth magic which had distracted Harry long enough to get knocked off his broom. Yami drew together into human form and settled himself cross legged on the floor. He gave a final check of the Gryffindor team and Yugi sitting around Harry's bed and the pulled up his vision filters.

First he checked the basic human magic; the spells seemed undisturbed if a little over active. Then he checked his way through the various species magic within the walls. All of them were normal, except the Shade magic which was once again a little overactive. That was probably because he was there, Yami moved past it. Finally he pulled a filter across his eyes that showed the earth magic. He had to take it off immediately as the magical glow nearly blinded him.

Yami glanced up. Yugi had looked his way, but was now turning his attention back to the others. Yami reapplied the filter very slowly, allowing his eyes to adjust to the magic as they needed to. The earth magic was even more active than the Shade magic. Yami watched the ebbing and flowing of the magic, he hadn't bothered to look at the magic since he had arrived back at the school and Yami wondered how long it had been like this. /The earth magic is far too active./ He thought to Yugi.

/I have not noticed anything and I have been using it/ Yugi replied.

Yami looked over at him. /I think that may be the problem./

Yugi sent him a quizzical look, but understood the unspoken comment that Yami wanted to talk to Harry and the others at the same time. As the rest of the day wore on Yami realised that he would need to talk to Luna as well. The part-blood had obviously contacted an elf about learning more about the earth magic and there was now an almost constant shimmer of the power on her.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Harry sat back and looked at Yami. Hermione and Ron were sitting on one side of the bed and Yugi was on the other. They had half an hour before Madame Pomfrey came back in and told everyone to get lost and Harry had something to ask their Shade.

First off however, Yami had something he apparently needed to discuss with them. "You all need to stop using earth magic." Harry blinked, Yami always did cut to the chase, but this was a bit strange.

"Why?" Hermione asked. Harry thought that this was extra strange because as far as he knew Ron and Hermione didn't use the earth magic at all.

Yami tilted his head. "Harry before you fell off your broom did you feel the earth magic shift?"

Harry frowned in thought and then remembered the tingling before the Bludger hit him. "Yeah, I didn't realise what it was, but now I think of it, it did feel like earth magic." Harry was surprised he hadn't thought of it before.

"The earth magic here has not been used like elves use it for many years. The sudden frequent use of it has made the magic come...unstuck so it is being more reactive."

Yugi tilted his head, "How come I have not noticed it before?" He asked. "I use it more than Harry does."

Yami shrugged, "You are more used to the magic around the villages, where the earth magic is always like this, here it is suppose to be latent, I think you should restrict your magic to elfin magic only."

Yugi nodded though he seemed a little puzzled. Hermione however spoke up. "Does it really matter; I mean earth magic is always there?"

Yami nodded. "It does matter, the more it is used the more it will respond and I do not think it would be a good thing for the spells around Hogwarts to become more altered than they already are. Who knows what could happen if the spells take on the true sentient nature of earth magic." There were a few moments silence as they all considered that.

Ron shrugged, "Well, it's not like we need to use it a lot anyway, we always use our wands."

Yami nodded. "Now Harry you wanted to speak to me."

Harry nodded, and looked at Hermione and Ron. He had told them both about meeting Malfoy, but they had both shrugged it off. They were going to have something to say about what he was about to ask.

"On the way down to the Quidditch match I ran into Malfoy heading away from the pitch. He's up to something and I think Dumbledore knows what it is. Please can you find out what he is doing?" To Harry's surprise Yami looked a little uncomfortable. His bright-dark eyes flickered around the room as though searching for an escape route.

He finally sighed, "I know what he is doing; after Ron was poisoned and I noticed that the tainting on...Malfoy did you call him?" Harry nodded and Yami continued, "I organised for him to be included in my spy network. He spends most of his time in the room we used for the DA last year."

"What is he doing in there?" Ron asked, Harry noticed however that Hermione looked stubbornly uninterested.

Yami shook his head. "I cannot tell; all I know is that he is doing something difficult and intricate with human magic."

Harry slumped back into his bed. "How could we possibly find out what he is doing in there?"

Hermione snorted and everyone looked her way. "I think you should leave it alone, if you're right and Dumbledore does know what he is doing then leave it Harry. After all Dumbledore wouldn't let him do anything dangerous. Come on Ron we should be going, we'll see you in the morning Harry."

Ron followed her out. "Maybe you should leave it mate." Then he was gone.

Harry looked at Yugi. "Do you think he is up to something?"

Yugi frowned. "Yes, but I do not know how you could work out what. Yami cannot exactly follow him around himself all day long; it would get a little suspicious."

Yami nodded. "Not that I would do it anyway." He added.

Harry looked around the room hoping for inspiration. "We know he is in there, but is there anyone who could follow him into the room and understand what he is doing?" Harry mused.

They all considered it is silence for several minutes, but none of them could come up with anything. Madame Pomfrey walked through the door. She gave the three of them a suspicious look and disappeared into her office.

Yugi muttered something to himself and wriggled under the blankets. Harry looked at Yami. The Shade met his eyes with a shrug, twirled into a ripple of shadows and returned to his corner. Harry sighed and pushed Yugi aside so he could lie down as well.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Yami followed Harry downstairs and into the Great Hall. A bubble of silence followed them until they were seated. People stopped talking as they approached and then broke out in hurried whispers again as they passed.

Yami leant against the wall behind the table; as usual there was a steady trickle of fear running into his reserves. Yami was fairly certain that no matter how long he remained here the children would remain frightened of him. Not that it mattered all that much, in fact the low level of fear was actually quite pleasant.

There was the usual flash of movement as the post owls arrived. Surprisingly one large owl swooped down and dropped a letter on Harry's plate before taking up position on the handle of a nearby jug.

Harry frowned and picked up the letter. He opened it and began to read. Neville glanced up, "What is it Harry?"

Harry's frown deepened as he read, "It's a letter from a reporter; he wants to interview me for the Daily Prophet about Shades." Harry looked up at Yami.

Yugi chuckled quietly and leant over so that he could read the letter in Harry's hand. Yami raised an eyebrow at Harry. "Let him come, see how he feels about Shades close up and personal." Yami twirled a few shadows around his hands in demonstration. Yugi clicked his tongue disapprovingly and looked up at Yami from behind his fringe.

Harry pulled a quill out of his bag. "I'll tell him to forget it, if the Prophet wants a story on Shades they can go interview one themselves." Harry still hadn't forgiven the Prophet for all the slander from last year, not to mention to sly comments this year.

Hermione held out her hand. "Maybe it's not such a bad thing Harry. After all it will give people a chance to learn more about Shades." Harry looked at her, Hermione and SPEW now encompassed the Shades whether they wanted it or not.

Hermione glared at him. "Not to mention getting people back on your side when they realise that you are willing to share everything you know and how to protect themselves against Shades."

Yami snorted, "Not possible, if humans are less frightened of us, then we will simply increase the magic we use to frighten you. We need your fear and anger to feed on; we are not simply going to give that up just because you think you know us better."

Hermione shook her head. "It doesn't matter if the Shades will actually appreciate it or not, all that matters is getting more people on Harry's side and less on the Ministry's side. If Harry has a potential way of protecting people against Shades and the Ministry doesn't then people will side with him. The more people with Harry, the more people we have to fight Voldemort the right way." Hermione looked triumphant and ignored the people who flinched around them.

Yami considered that, Hermione had of course struck on the best way to get him to work with his humans, the potential to damage Voldemort. Harry looked back and forth between them. "So yes then. I suppose I should ask McGonagall first though." He glanced back down at the letter.

Yami smirked at him. "Yes, Harry and we will give him a welcome he will never forget." Yami undid his human form and swirled over the students heads spun around the teachers table upsetting a few cups before vanishing back down to the forest.


	24. Interviews

Chapter 24: Interviews

Yami watched the two newcomers make their uneasy way up the path. They were both adults though one was young by human standards. Yami moved inside to find McGonagall waiting with Harry, Ron, Hermione and Yugi. Yami stepped into human form as he touched the ground and walked quickly across the Entrance Hall.

"They are here." He informed the waiting humans.

McGonagall nodded stiffly. "If you want to back out Potter, now is your chance."

Harry shook his head, his eyes on the doors. Yugi looked around between them and sighed. /Yami behave yourself./

Yami glanced down at him. /Are you not going to stay?/

Yugi shook his head and pulled on Hermione and Ron's robes. /No we are going to wait for you outside the room. If it is just you, Harry and the Professor then I think it will go better./

Yami shrugged and looked at Hermione who was trying to pull her robes out of Yugi's grip. "He wants you to go with him." He told them. McGonagall raised one eyebrow, but made no comment.

Hermione looked confused. "We were going to all stay and talk to the reporter." She said.

"Change of plan. Besides I doubt he will want to talk to you." Yami told her bluntly. Hermione flinched and after a few more moments of hesitation she glumly followed Yugi, dragging Ron behind her.

Harry looked at Yami. "Are you sure?" He asked as Yugi and his two friends vanished around the nearby staircase.

Yami shrugged, "It is up to Yugi. I think it is more that he is sick of people trying to get him to talk." Yami and Harry smirked at each other. Some of the Gryffindor students had kidnapped Yugi the other day and tried to get him to talk to them. Yami had rescued the distressed elf only after he had finished laughing.

There was a loud creaking and the doors to the Entrance Hall opened enough to allow the reporter and his cameraman inside. Yami un-wove his human form and settled into the shadows behind Harry.

The non-magical human from the school limped forwards and examined the two visitors both carefully before permitting them to step towards Harry and McGonagall.

Yami sent out a wisp of shadowy magic to check both humans over. The reporter didn't even have the faintest mark of tainting on him and there were no foreign darkings following him. The camera man also had no tainting on him, but he did have a darking trailing after him. Yami called the little shadow to him and it came gladly, chattering happily about the new magic it was tasting.

McGonagall stepped forward. "Welcome to Hogwarts." She greeted the reporter who looked at her warily and then around the room. Yami watched his eyes trail sharply through the darker portions of the hall. He had obviously been told what to watch out for, still Yami's time at Hogwarts had made him exceptionally good at hiding from human eyes. McGonagall continued despite being ignored. "Please come this way." She motioned for the reporter to follow her and Harry trailed uncomfortably in his wake with the camera man snapping photos enthusiastically. Yami followed them all before swirling ahead to settle in the room, still in shadow-form.

The four humans made themselves comfortable. Yami checked his hold on his emotive magic; he had decided that until he made a physical appearance he would restrict his fear spells. The reporter was very nervous though. The energy was coolly pleasant and made Yami wonder how the humans would react if their anti-Shade spells suddenly stopped functioning. The camera man didn't seem at all bothered by anything. He was focused on taking numerous photos of a slightly uncomfortable Harry.

"Well." The reporter said and cleared his throat. He had a quill and parchment out; the quill was perched ready to write without its owner holding it. Yami resisted the temptation to knock it over. "My name is Keith." The young man said, holding out one hand which Harry shook. _Snap_, another photo.

"Nice to meet you." Harry said. Yami could tell that he was steeling himself and trying not to glare into the camera.

"Well, as you know I am here to talk to you about Shades. Now it is common knowledge that you in fact command a Shade." The reporter said, his pen immediately began to shoot across the page.

Harry interrupted, "Actually I don't command him, I don't think any human could ever give a Shade an order and expect him to obey it, but he's a friend." Yami watched as Harry flinched a little when the reporter started and blinked at him. _Snap_, another photo.

"Right of course, well, naturally people have been concerned about your...association with a Shade. How long have you known him?" The younger human was starting to get into the flow of his interview and peered intently at Harry.

Harry shifted, "Just over a year, he arrived at the school at the start of my fifth year, but I didn't meet him until later."

"Yes yes, right, and how have you found living in such close quarters with a Shade?"

Harry sighed, "It's fine, he doesn't use his magic on us, or at least he tries to limit how much it affects us." They had all agreed that it would be best to limit how much information Harry gave people about Yugi's involvement with Yami and the protective strength of his magic against Yami's powers. The last thing any of them wanted was for the humans to become too interested in Yugi.

"You don't worry that he will hurt you, intentionally or inadvertently?" The youth gave what was obviously supposed to be a penetrating look; it came out more like he had sat on something unpleasantly spiky.

Harry shook his head, though Yami knew he was thinking about Yami's recent attack on him. "No." Yami suppressed a chuckle, short, nice. The camera man started and peered towards Yami shadows. Yami huddled a little further back and concentrated on being invisible.

"What are the other student's thoughts on living with a Shade?" The reporter glanced up sharply now, watching Harry's face intently.

"At first they were all a bit freaked out, and that really didn't help. Shades feed off our fear, so being frightened of Yami only made him more likely to stick close to them and make them feel worse. But I think people are used to it now. Everyone is still a little jumpy, but generally okay about it all." Harry met the other human's eyes straight on. McGonagall ducked her head to hide her smirk.

"Right, of course people are wondering whether or not you and...Yami was it? Are behind the recent attacks on Death Eaters and a few innocents?"

Harry paused and his eyes flickered over to Yami, but he wasn't ready to show himself just yet. He was waiting for the opportune moment. Harry turned his attention back to the reporter.

"Voldemort." Harry paused as the reporter nearly fell off his chair as he started. The cameraman only just caught his machine and all the colour had drained out of his face. "He did something in the past that made the Shades really angry and now he is looking for a way to fight them. The Shades are taking that personally and are attacking any wizards that they can get to. I suppose in a roundabout way it is my fault, Voldemort wouldn't have offended the Shades if Yami hadn't come here and they wouldn't be attacking people. But the Shades aren't hurting innocents on purpose they are just trying to kill off the Death Eaters. People should really be grateful for that. The best advice I can give is to make sure that their anti-Shade spells are up to date and that they don't go wandering into the forests on their own."

Yami resisted growling. He knew that Harry had to suggest that people protect themselves, but he really wished there could be another way rather than the anti-Shade spells. He hated those things.

The reporter nodded seriously. "Good advice, anything else you have for people, ways to protect themselves or fight a Shade?"

Harry laughed, and Yami couldn't resist chuckling with him. The reporter looked around startled, but Harry drew his attention back. "The only way to protect themselves is to stay in the anti-Shade spells. They're the only human magic that works on Shades and as for fighting them. I'd seriously recommend against it, just try and stay calm and..." Harry paused and looked thoughtful. "Make it rain. Shades hate getting wet, although if you're not careful you might just make them angry enough to kill you instead of just torturing you."

The reporter shuddered and glanced at his quill. "Of course I can't talk to Harry Potter without asking, do you intend to use the advantage you have over You-Know-Who and kill him now?"

Yami decided that now was the moment and he moved across the room, gathering his shadows slowly so that only Harry noticed his appearance until Yami stood right beside his young human. As Yami moved he released his hold on his emotive spells, just enough to make the unprotected humans in the room go pale. McGonagall set her shoulders and levelled a glare at Yami. The reporter nearly fell out of his chair again, his face deathly pale. The cameraman snapped another photo of him standing next to Harry, Yami wondered if it would come out, especially considering how much his hands were shaking. Yami smiled at them, enjoying the men's fear, it would be interesting to see what would happen if he fully released his fear spells.

"Hello." Yami said.

"Hey Yami." Harry replied offhand. The fact that McGonagall had maintained a straight face at this point was a mark for the woman's self control. Yami restricted his fear spells again, but the level of terror coming from the two men didn't even fade. He flashed his teeth in a grin.

"Keith, this is Yami." Harry knew that Yami had been there all the time and didn't bother to give the humans names again.

"P...p...pleasure." The reporter stuttered out, his fingers twisting nervously obviously unsure as to whether or not he should offer a handshake.

Yami chuckled and settled onto a nearby chair. "Calm yourself human, the fear you feel is entirely of your own making." _Snap_, Yami did glare at the second man who almost passed out, but managed to take another photo.

"Well, um, yes, okay." The human fumbled for his parchment, blinking desperately while waves of fear rushed over him.

Yami snorted. "Surely you were expecting my appearance, or are you stupid enough to think that I would not enjoy seeing you squirm."

Harry covered a laugh with a cough.

The reporter looked confused. "I... well Harry are you going to kill You-Know Who now?" He seemed to have decided that ignoring Yami's presence was going to be the most comfortable thing, though he was still trembling.

Yami noticed Harry look at him, so Yami replied for him. "No, but if Voldemort is game enough he is welcome to attempt to take Hogwarts now." Yami grinned at the reporter. "I will be waiting."

Keith blanched, but soldiered on, this time taking a potentially risky jab at Yami. "Would the Shades be willing to give up attacking humans if a truce was organised."

Yami laughed, "No."

"Why not?" He was now looking slightly in Yami's direction, wincing.

"Would you give up food?" Yami retorted.

The reporter opened and closed his mouth a few times and blinked uncertainly. He looked down at his notes again. "Right well I suppose we should also mention the elf you are currently caring for, what was his name again?"

Harry looked up. "Yugi."

"Will I be able to meet him at all?" Keith looked hopeful.

Harry shook his head. "I don't think so; he's a little fed up with all the attention at the moment."

"Pity." The reporter looked down again and McGonagall cleared her throat. "Right sorry, I'll wrap up soon. I take then you have a good relationship with the elves."

Harry shrugged, "I've met a few, but I don't really have anything to do with them." Yami rumbled softly, the questions were getting more twisted around so that was enough.

Apparently Keith sensed that because he suddenly folded up his parchment and stuffed the quill back into his bag. "Mmm...well I think that is it, nice to have met you. The interview should be published in a few days." Keith leant forwards, caught Yami's eye and jerked backwards again. _Snap_, if the human kept that up Yami was going to throw him out the window. Keith gathered everything together in a pile, nodded towards McGonagall and bolted from the room, leaving nothing but a trail of sweet tasting fear. The camera man took a final photo of Yami and Harry sitting side-by-side before following the reporter out.

Yami turned his head and waited until he couldn't sense the human anymore before he turned to Harry and McGonagall. "That went well." He smirked.

Harry grinned, and then his smile faltered, "Do you think he will write something decent or will he morph it into something that supports the Ministry?"

McGonagall snorted, "The Prophet will twist it as much as they can, surely you expected that Potter."

"I suppose." Harry sighed, "Thanks Professor. Come on Yami; let's find Yugi and the others."

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Harry dropped into the seat next to Neville. Luna and Yugi were once again playing a very complicated card game. Yami was telling Neville, Ron and Hermione about the interview, so Harry took the time to closely examine Luna. He hadn't seen Luna in a while and she never seemed to stick around long enough for Harry to work out exactly what he was sensing.

Now however it didn't even take him a minute to work it out this time. She was almost leaking earth magic. Harry frowned. He had stopped practicing with the elemental power since Yami had discovered that doing so had made the magic in the school walls overact. Yugi too had stopped using it and instead relied on his own elfin magic, which actually seemed more effective and delicate anyway.

"Luna, have you been using the earth magic?" Harry asked; everyone turned to look at him.

She smiled at him. "Yes, but I don't use it here, Yami asked me not to."

"Where then?" Harry asked still confused.

Luna shrugged and her smile became more mysterious. "Here and there."

"Have you just been practicing on your own?" Hermione asked.

Yugi put down a card and looked expectantly up at Luna who was no longer paying attention. He frowned and everyone except Yami ignored him, the Shade started to smirk.

Luna shook her head in answer to Hermione's question. "No I have a teacher, Yami told me to contact an elf and they sent out a teacher for me."

All conversation was interrupted at that point as Yugi made an impatient whistle, a noise which was loud enough to leave Harry's ears ringing. Madame Price was on them immediately and they were scooped out of the Library for making too much noise. Yami was no help. He had simply picked up Yugi and walked out. Harry glared at Yugi, the elf wouldn't normally draw attention to himself like that, but he and Luna had been playing a game and Yugi could be absolutely fanatical about games.

"Excuse me?" A very quiet voice shaking with nerves said behind them. Harry turned around to see a tiny first year girl standing awkwardly with a note in her hand. Her big brown eyes flashed to Yami, the Shade made as though to melt backwards into the shadows, but the girl's shudder of fear stopped him. He sighed and rolled his eyes, one arm tightening around Yugi's slim form.

"Yes?" Harry asked.

"This is for you." She said holding the note out to him. The instant the piece of parchment left her fingers she ran. Harry opened the note while Ron chuckled. "Still scaring the first years Yami."

The Shade smirked and glanced at Harry. "Another lesson with Dumbledore?" He asked.

Harry nodded and looked at him. "How'd you know?"

Yami looked smug. "I have my ways." Then both he and Yugi dissolved into Yami shadows and the two were gone.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Yami ambled his way into Dumbledore's office. As usual the phoenix was absent, though Yami could taste the fiery twang of its magic. Harry and Yugi were sitting down and Harry was looking a little glum. Yami shook his head as he took a seat as well, Harry still hadn't managed to wheedle the memory off of Slughorn. Even Yugi had tried, but Slughorn was stubbornly resistant to the little elf's gently persuading magic. The only thing they hadn't tried was Yami's bullying. He had been shouted down by humans and elf alike when he had brought it up again. Yami met Harry's eyes; he would bet anything that the human was regretting his decision now.

Yami leant his chair back and balanced it on the back legs. "Since Harry has failed in retrieving the memory will you tell us what a Horcrux is?" He studied Dumbledore calmly.

The old wizard shook his head. Yami growled and let the faintest trickle of emotive spells loose. Sweat broke out on Dumbledore's forehead. Yugi glared at Yami, but he didn't comment. Yami knew that Yugi was a little sick of the secrecy as well.

"Professor Slughorn's memory will reveal everything, now please; we do have two other memories to visit tonight. So if you would Yugi." Dumbledore pulled over a chair for Yugi to stand on. Yami lifted him up and Yugi examined the basin with a great deal of distaste. /If I have to use one of these ever again after this it will be far too soon./

Yami chuckled as he settled back into his seat. The darkings spread out around the room as the two humans and Yugi sunk into the memory. Yami gave them the usual moment to establish themselves and was interested to notice that despite the fact that Dumbledore's mind was buried in magic, his body still responded to Yami's fear magic. Yami smiled and allowed the trickle to flow into his reserves as he submerged his own mind in Yugi's.

They were standing in an incredibly crowded room. Yugi glanced around and spotted two humans sitting nearby. Dumbledore and Harry had moved towards them, so Yugi wove his way around the room following them. Harry glanced back and panic flashed across his face for a moment, until he noticed Yugi's spiky hair emerge from behind an overstuffed footstool. One of the humans was an old woman who laughed shrilly and waved her hands excessively as she spoke. The other human was a quiet and dark haired youth, Voldemort.

Yami hissed, even through the human memory magic he could sense the tainting, not yet as strong as it was to become, but enough to set the Shade on edge. Yugi looked at Voldemort, /I cannot feel anything./ He told Yami. The humans were talking about some of the old woman's treasures. The woman waved her hand and gave Voldemort a simpering look which nearly made Yami gag. Harry looked at him curiously. "Professor, why is he doing this trying to wheedle trinkets out of old ladies I mean, surely there was something else he could have done?"

"Yes Harry, he could have done a great many things, but Voldemort chose to do this. In fact this becomes incredibly important in what he did next, not to mention he was very very good at it." Yugi jumped out of the way as an ancient House Elf hurried past, weaving expertly though the junk with a box balanced over her head.

"Mr. Burkes has been after these little trinkets of mine ever since he sold me one of them." The woman snivelled. Voldemort leant forwards in interest.

"This one has been in our family for years; we are descendents of Helga Hufflepuff of course." She took out a small golden cup and held it out to Voldemort to examine. Yami took the moment to question Yugi. /Hufflepuff?/ He was almost certain that was the name of one of the houses at Hogwarts, the ones in yellow. /She was one of the founders of Hogwarts./ Yugi told him.

Yami perked up, Hogwarts was probably the most interesting piece of human magic he had ever come across. No one seemed to know how it was built, the humans assumed it was all human magic, no one but Yami, Yugi and his three humans knew that there was the magic of nearly every magical race in existence within the walls.

Voldemort turned the cup over in his fingers, "It's beautiful." He said dutifully and handed it back reluctantly. The woman gave another giggle and turned to the House Elf who handed another item. Yugi squeaked and pointed desperately. Though he was standing the furthest away of the three in the memory his eyes were the sharpest. Harry had been leaning forwards to see what Voldemort was holding, but he turned to look at Yugi who had climbed onto a couch with difficulty.

Yugi pointed at the locket in Voldemort's hand, Yami recognised it now. It was Voldemort's mother's locket. The one she had been wearing in the first memory they had visited. Dumbledore smiled. "Exactly, Hepzibah Smith bought the locket which Voldemort's mother had sold, desperate, poor and alone in London." Voldemort was looking at the locket with undisguised longing and Yami felt the tainting strengthen for a moment. Then the locket was once more stored in the chest and it was borne away by the staggering House Elf.

Yugi watched her go as Dumbledore nodded to Harry that they were going. Yami caught the look out of the corner of Yugi's eye and drew back into his own body, warning the elf to brace himself.

The three of them arrived and Dumbledore slipped slightly as he regained his mind. The effect of Yami's spells had still been working and the sudden rush of fear knocked the old wizard slightly. Yami made a conscious effort to pull the spells back in again. It was starting to get uncomfortable, he would have to stick clear of the humans for a few days so he could let lose.

Dumbledore sat down and they all took their seats again. Yami leant back on his chair again, watching his darking investigate the Sorting Hat. "Hepzibah Smith was found dead a few days later, her House Elf Hokey was found guilty of accidentally poisoning her mistresses cocoa." Yugi gave a shocked cry and clapped his hands to his mouth.

Dumbledore nodded at him sadly. "She was old, no one really blamed her. However after Hepzibah's affects were examined her family realised that Hufflepuff's cup and the locket were missing. Then a few days later Tom Riddle quit his job at Borgin and Burkes."

Harry looked up from his clenched fists. "Voldemort killed Hepzibah, framed Hokey and then stole the cup and locket." He said teeth clenched now as well.

Dumbledore nodded. "Yes indeed, though what he did with them, we will not be able to determine until you retrieve Professor Slughorn's memory. However we do have one more memory to examine tonight, this one is mine." He rose to his feet again and approached the pensive. Yugi glared at the basin and didn't move. Yami looked at him. "Are you not going along?" He asked. Harry turned and looked at Yugi; the elf shook his head determinedly and crossed his arms. /My head hurts./

Yami dropped his chair to all fours and held out his arms. "Explain what happens to us." Yami told the two humans. Dumbledore nodded, but Harry hesitated. "It's only one more." He said. Yami glared at him, enough was enough. Harry shrugged and leant into the pensive.

"I really do not like that thing." Yugi said and settled back into Yami's chest. After a moment's silence Yugi asked; "How come I cannot sense the tainting?"

Yami looked down at him. "It could be the memory magic, I have sensed it before so I know what I am looking for, you do not."

"Or." Yugi pressed.

"Or it is a Shade thing and you will never be able to sense it no matter what. I hope that it the reason, I do not want you being in contact with something like that." Yami told him matter of factly.

Yugi pouted cutely for a moment. "Have the darkings been able to find Voldemort again?" He asked.

Yami shook his head. Try as they might the darkings couldn't seem to stick to Voldemort. Yami was worried that he had managed to master enough of the Veil that he could repel the darkings. If he had soon he would be untouchable with Shade magic. The only comforting thing was that he hadn't passed the skill onto any of his Death Eaters so Yami was still getting bits and pieces of him from the darkings with the members of his band. The sudden activity of the other Shades had the Death Eaters very much on edge and they were being cautious. Even Voldemort was holding back, like he was waiting for something.

Yugi toyed thoughtfully with a few of the shadows which escaped Yami's physical form, the elf's light touch made Yami twitch. "Stop that it tickles." He told Yugi. The elf paused for a moment and then continued. Yami looked down at him and Yugi looked up at him with wide innocent eyes. Yami pulled the strands back into his form and gave Yugi a smug look. The elf stuck out his tongue, but further comment was stilled as Harry and Dumbledore awoke.

Harry looked over at them. "I think you should have come." He said.

"What happened?" Yami asked and Yugi abandoned his place in Yami's lap and went over to Harry.

Harry glanced at Dumbledore who nodded for him to explain. "Dumbledore was interviewing Voldemort for a teaching position."

Yami lifted an eyebrow and looked at Dumbledore, who was absently stroking his blackened hand. Yugi eyes were on that hand again and Yami could sense him trying to probe at the curse to check again if there was anything he could do.

Dumbledore nodded, "I refused him of course. I knew far too well that he would use Hogwarts to recruit more people to his Death Eaters, though I didn't yet know what he was to become."

Yami nodded, "Why is this important?"

Dumbledore leant back. "It is another example that Voldemort collects trophies which are of great importance and that he enjoys power and that he thought of Hogwarts as one of the only homes he ever had. Also after that interview I have been unable to keep a Defence Against the Dark Art's teacher for more than a year."

Yami tilted head, now that was interesting.

Harry's eye widened, "So he did curse the job?"

Dumbledore shrugged, "I can't be sure, I can detect no curse, so whatever curse he has used is more subtle than anything I have ever seen. This doesn't surprise me as Voldemort was always very skilled with curses."

Everyone went quiet as they considered that, Harry to think of his parents, Yugi his home village and Yami of that day long ago.

Yami looked up finally shaking off the memory of that all encompassing exhaustion and getting to his feet. "Well I see no reason for another of these to occur until Harry has managed to get the final memory off of that human, whatever his name is. Goodbye." He undid his human form and left via the partially open window. The abrupt departure was entirely to disguise his interest in the curse on the teachers. He wanted to examine that.

Yami travelled down the school and headed for the Defence Against the Dark Art's classroom, he slid into the room and looked around. The ex-Death Eater wasn't there so Yami wove out his vision filters and examined the walls.

After discovering that the mixture of magic extended everywhere in the school Yami hadn't bothered to examine each room in detail. He noticed a few things, the common rooms and dorms had more earth and giant magic for protection, while the entrances and the outer boundaries had more Shade magic for diversion and disguise.

This room contained more human magic; it made sense seeing as it was a classroom used for teaching human magic, however there was quite a bit of centaur and even a little vampire magic in the mix. Yami suspected that the centaur magic predicted the spells which would be used and vampire magic helped to strengthen human magic. As usual underneath everything else was the layer of earth magic powering all the spells.

It was the human magic that Yami focused on, Voldemort did not use other races magic; he considered it beneath him. The only exception he had ever made, according to Dumbledore was his short lived accommodation with the Shades.

Yami's careful deliberation was interrupted by Snape's arrival. Yami swirled over to the corner; vision filters still in place and looked at the human. It was then that he saw it, the faintest mark. In Snape it was partially hidden by the last trace of the tainting from Voldemort and without his vision filters without a good idea of what he was looking for Yami would never have seen the spell. He certainly hadn't seen it on the teacher last year.

The curse was small, it linked and activated as Snape walked into the room. The spell was human, but Voldemort had somehow managed, without knowledge of the earth magic, to tie it into the spells within the walls of the castle itself. The originator of the spell lay within the walls of the room around them and it was only big enough to accommodate one person at a time. It also seemed to take time to build up power. Beyond that no amount of prodding the spell would determine exactly what it did. Yami didn't know enough about human magic to be able to determine how it worked, let alone remove it even if he had wanted to.

Yami looked at Snape, "Well you won't be here much longer." He said. The human spun and a sudden surge of fright rose up as Yami left via the nearest window, smashing it on his way out. He made his way down to the forest where he could let his magic loose as he wanted. Yami checked on Yugi who was settling down to sleep and informed him that Harry was already asleep.

Hogwarts Shade protector settled down within the darkness of the forest to consider everything he had learnt.

* * *

_Yugi's whistle is mine, I have been known to temporarily deafen nearby people with it, it makes me laugh._

_I've managed to pull ahead a few chapters so I will be able to update every week, not that I haven't been, through the last few weeks of uni and through exams when I won't get much writing done._


	25. Trial and Error

Chapter 25: Trial and Error

Harry picked up the Daily Prophet with shaking hands. He was more than a little nervous about reading his interview. After the debacle with Rita Skeeter Harry didn't trust reporters to actually report what was said.

Harry looked at the front page, Yami peering over his shoulder. The Shade was making more frequent appearances in the Great Hall during breakfast and dinner. It seemed that when the whole school was there people weren't as nervous about him.

Harry moaned. The front page was almost entirely taken up with a photo of him sitting in a chair looking a little uncomfortable; the chair next to him was empty except for a pair of floating eyes. As he watched the picture Harry gave an uncertain wave and looked over at the other chair. The eyes shifted and blinked, then vanished. Apparently human magic struggled to affect Shade's images as well as their physical selves.

Yami chuckled. "I did not think that would work." He said, eyeing the photo. Yugi stood on his toes to look as well.

Harry looked down at the headline splashed over the picture. "Harry Potter speaks out about the dangers of living with Shades."

Harry blinked, "Since when did one Shade become a plural?" He asked and turned to page 3 where the article continued and started reading. Halfway through he had to stop. As he set the paper aside with disgust Yami picked it up and continued reading, an amused smile on his face. While all Harry's answers were there, the Prophet had true to form twisted his words so that it sounded almost like he was preparing to gather a Shade and elfin army ready to take down Voldemort and the Death Eaters in one foul swoop.

Yami chuckled darkly and handed the paper back to Hermione. Harry supposed he should be glad that Yami found it all amusing, because the Prophet really did make it sound as though Harry had complete control over Yami's actions. Yugi shook his head, but he was smiling as well. "You humans do like to fool yourselves.' Yami said with a smirk.

Harry sighed and looked up, the post owls were arriving and he knew he would be getting a huge pile of letters. As the owls swirled around the Great Hall searching for the recipients of their letters, nearly half their number descended onto the Gryffindor table. Birds landed everywhere and when the storm of feathers had subsided, everyone except Yami had an owl sitting on their head. People blinked, stunned by the sudden wave of avian messengers. Yugi burst into a fit of giggles and collapsed onto the table, the small barn owl perched in his tri-coloured locks hooted as its perch lurched dangerously forward.

Harry looked around. "Can everyone take a letter, just start pulling them off the owls and put them in a pile." Yami leant back against the wall and watched smirking. With half the Gryffindor house and several Ravenclaws who had wandered over helping they soon had the letters neatly piled and ready to go through.

Harry, Ron, Hermione and Neville each took a letter and started to read. They were all from people who had read the article. Many were people telling Harry that he was an idiot for trusting a Shade, others were begging him to not set Yami on their children. Harry shuffled through a few more. There were thankyou notes for the warning, particularly the message about Shade's dislike of water and others who had further questions concerning Shades, like Harry was some sort of expert. Harry tossed those letters to Yami who read them with a frown on his face.

Ron snorted, "Someone is complaining that you don't go out and fight Voldemort, and I quote 'If you have so many powerful allies why are you not ridding our world of the danger which threatens our very existence." Ron looked up at Yami. "You've really been upgraded, you're an army now."

Yami smiled as he looked up from the letters he was systematically destroying, "Have I not always been?" Yugi had nearly calmed down at this point, but Yami smug look and offhand comment set him going again. Harry patted the elf on the head and shooed a few more owls away after ridding them of their letters. Harry sighed, "What am I supposed to do with all of these."

McGonagall walked past and eyed the piles of parchment, "I suggest vanishing them; it will be good practice."

Harry grudgingly pulled out his wand. It took the three of them nearly five minutes to remove all the letters. The Great Hall had mostly cleared out by this time. So Harry picked up his bag and Yugi and they all headed off to class.

Yami vanished to do his own thing. As Harry sat down to Charms he really wished he could joined the Shade.

Harry was sitting in an armchair in the empty common room, Ron and Hermione sat nearby finishing their work. Well Hermione was reading through Harry's completed essay, Ron was still writing his. Yugi and Yami were seated next to the fire talking softly in elfish. Harry watched the play of fire light over the two of them and a thought came to mind. "Yami, have you found anything else out about what Malfoy is doing?"

Yami didn't move and for a moment Harry wondered if the Shade hadn't heard him. As Harry opened his mouth to repeat his question Yami replied, his voice was soft and contemplative. "I will keep an eye on him, but I will not interfere. There is something going on which I do not understand." After another moment of silence where Yugi turned to look at his scarlet eyed protector, Yami continued. "I wish I could find Voldemort again, but my spies cannot locate him. I think he may have discovered enough magic within the Veil to prevent me from locating him or using any magic on him."

Harry blood ran cold; there was no way that was a good thing. "Is there any way to tell for sure? Aren't the other Death Eaters meeting up with him?"

Yami shook his head, "They are meeting with him, but my spies cannot penetrate the meetings, and that is what makes me think that he is using the Veil."

Ron glanced over at them and joined in the conversation, "Can't we break into the Ministry and destroy the Veil, or get the Order to do it?" Yugi nodded thoughtfully.

Yami chuckled dryly and looked over at the four of them. "And what magic would you use, Shade magic cannot be used against it, human magic is too weak and elfin magic is not designed for that kind of destruction."

"Earth magic." Hermione said. "It is powerful enough and has no restrictions on it."

Harry nodded, "Surely that would work."

Yami and Yugi both shook their heads. "You have no idea what effect that would have. You are talking about destroying a pure shadow with the elemental magic which runs through the entire world. In doing so you could very well destroy the entire world along with the Veil. No for the moment, I will keep an eye on things and we will just have to hope that Voldemort does not discover anymore magic from the Veil." Yami turned back to the fire and slowly faded back into the shadows.

Harry watched the spot where he had disappeared before he picked Yugi up and went up to bed.

The next few days brought a mixed bag of good and bad news. There had been two arrests of people under the Imperious Curse and one more Death Eater had been found dead, assumed killed by a Shade. However several more of the common wizarding folk had also been attacked by Shades and the Ministry believed that the Shades were becoming more active in the muggle areas.

In one of Harry spare lessons he had left Yugi with Yami and after a quick consultation with the Marauders Map made his way up to the Room of Requirement. Malfoy was in Charms so Harry decided that now was as good a time as any to try his own way of getting into the Room. Harry stopped at the point where the door to the Room normally appeared. He had two options and Harry decided to go with the simplest method first. He walked back and forth three times, thinking desperately _Become what you become for Malfoy. _When he stopped there was no door. Harry glared at the wall and tried again. He tried several times over with variations on the wording and got nothing.

Harry groaned, on to Plan B. Harry narrowed his eyes at the wall and reached for the earth magic. The magic came with a willingness that startled Harry a bit, Yami was right the magic was becoming more active. Harry turned his attention to the room; he had more important things to worry about than overactive magic.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Yami lifted his head as the world did a sharp dip. Yugi gave a cry of surprise and clapped his hands to his ears. Yami could feel the heavy pressure of a noise he couldn't hear press into his mind, while Yugi's more sensitive ears were assailed with the sound. Someone was using earth magic. Yami focused, by the amount of power it had to be Harry. Luna had sworn that she would only use the earth magic within Hogwarts if it became a matter of life or death. Yami took off, Yugi running after him, hands still over his ears.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Harry focused on what he wanted: the room Malfoy had been using. He wanted the door to that version of the room. The earth magic swelled, Harry struggled to hold the magic to what he wanted it to do. He could feel the power at his fingertips, with this kind of magical strength he could destroy Voldemort, he could get his revenge; he could do anything, if only the door would open.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Yami flashed up the side of the castle and through the window into the corridor where Harry stood. The human was soaked in earth magic. He glowed so brightly that Yami could barely stand to look at him. Had Harry not listened to what had Yami said about using earth magic? The powers here were too concentrated and too long latent. Harry was risking tearing Hogwarts in half.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

The earth magic sung to Harry, warning him of an approaching danger. Harry glanced over his shoulder to see the swirling shadows of Yami's true form. The Shade had stopped just inside the window. "Harry stop." Yami said.

Harry ignored him and turned back to the wall, earth magic reached out and brushed the wall, he wanted to get in the room. "HARRY STOP." Yami yelled.

Harry turned and sent a surge of earth magic at the Shade. He just needed a few more moments to work this out. Yami threw himself sideways, pulling his shadows away from the blast of magic. There was a startled squeak as Yugi ducked back through a doorway to avoid the magical attack.

Harry paused and the magic swirled in question. It would never hurt Yugi, but the elf wouldn't stop him, Yami was the danger, Shade magic was too powerful.

Harry looked over at Yami; the Shade was pulling himself together again. "Harry you do not know what you are doing."

Harry smiled, "I just need to get into the Room of Requirement, and the earth magic is the best way to do that. It's alright, everything is under control."

"Everything is not under control Harry, please you have to stop before someone finds us, or worse you tear the school apart." Yugi voice reached Harry where Yami's hadn't. The elf seemed to be able to speak past Harry to the earth magic itself.

Harry wavered. "I can do this." He said.

"I am sure you can, but please Harry, just wait and let us help you." Yugi insisted.

Harry took a deep breath and let the earth magic fall away again. It went reluctantly and it took Harry's consciousness with it.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Yami set Harry on his bed in the dorm, the human was heavier than he looked and the fact that he was several inches taller than Yami made him awkward to carry without reverting to his shadow form. Yugi climbed up onto the bed and placed one hand over Harry's forehead. Yami felt Yugi's healing magic shift. "Could you go and tell McGonagall that Harry will not be coming to lessons for the rest of today, please." The elf murmured.

Yami nodded and left the room. Finding the teachers in the middle of the day was easy. However there was the disadvantage that they were always with students. Last year that would have been a serious problem, this year it just meant that Yami got a pleasant dose of fear. He took human-form before entering the room, and felt Yugi's absentminded appreciation of the act. Silence fell as Yami strolled into McGonagall's classroom. The students were all watching him. "Yami, can I help you." McGonagall's voice was a little strained, but it was irritation at his interruption rather than fear of his presence.

"I have been asked to inform you that Harry will not be attending classes for the rest of the day." Yami told her, he quickly closed his fist around his darking to prevent it wandering off to investigate the new room. The other darkings trickled off before he could catch them. Thankfully all the attention in the room was focused on Yami, not on the wandering little shadows.

"Why?" McGonagall asked, ignoring the admiring gasps from her students.

"He over extended himself and is currently unconscious."

McGonagall studied him fiercely. "Has he been taken to the Hospital Wing?"

Yami bit off a growl, he was sick of the Hospital Wing, "No, Yugi is taking care of him. Inform the other adults." Yami turned to walk back out of the room.

"Thank you." McGonagall called after him. Yami stopped at the door and looked back at her. He dipped his head in acknowledgement before making his way back up to the dorm rooms.

Yugi was sitting on the bed when Yami arrived, watching Harry sleep soundly.

/The idea was good./ Yugi told him.

Yami shook his head. /His ability to call up the earth magic is impressive, but he does not have the mental strength to prevent the magic from controlling him./

Yugi looked up. /It does not help that the magic is so different here, you were right, it is far more active than it was when we arrived and I think that is making it very dangerous./

Yami nodded. /I think you should remind him not to use it at all anymore./

Yugi nodded. /How will we be able to see into the room?/

Yami shook his head, /I am not sure, do we really need to?/ Yugi just looked at him. /I will think about it, the magic which hides the room is Shade, perhaps that will help./ Yugi nodded and smiled at him.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

When Harry woke he had a headache that belonged in a much larger head. He groaned and sat up. Yugi turned quickly from his place on the window sill. "How are you feeling?" The elf asked.

"Ugh." Was Harry's only reply, and Yugi giggled.

"What time is it?" Harry asked once he was able to form a coherent thought.

"Late. I sent Yami, Ron and Hermione to get us some food from the Great Hall before dinner is over. Are you hungry?" Yugi climbed onto the bed with a bit of difficultly, Harry would have helped but he wasn't entirely sure if he was strong enough to lift even Yugi's feather weight. Harry's stomach gave an epic growl in response to Yugi's question. "Yes, I'm famished." Harry told him.

Yugi smiled, "Thought so."

After a few moments of silence Harry put forward a question. "How come using the earth magic still tires me out? I thought I was supposed to be good at this?"

Yugi nodded, "You are, the difference is that you can call up as much magic as you need and not feel the effects until you have released the magic. Others feel the drain as they use the magic, you do not."

"So if I held onto the earth magic for ages..." Harry tried.

"Then you would be fine, until you let go when you would collapse from exhaustion." Yugi frowned at him. "Please do not tell me you are thinking of doing something like that. I do not want to see you hurt. I have already had to patch you up too many times." Yugi looked so worried that Harry smiled and hugged him, reassuring him that he was just checking.

The door to the dorm opened and a trail of shadows preceded Ron and Hermione's arrival.

The two of them dropped onto Harry's bed and handed him what they had swiped from the table. Harry tucked in and nodded uncomfortably to Yami who had re-formed near the window. "Thanks." Harry said around a mouthful of pie.

Hermione frowned at him. "I told you to leave Malfoy alone." She said fiercely.

Harry rolled his eyes, "Give it a break Hermione. It was worth a try."

"Do you realise that people thought the school was collapsing, everything shook." Hermione told him.

Harry frowned and looked over at Yugi who nodded. "Sorry." Harry mumbled and took another bite. The thing that annoyed him the most was that his plan hadn't worked. There had to be something he could do.

Harry woke that weekend feeling mildly cheerful, for no apparent reason. He rolled out of bed, causing Yugi to moan, peer at him sleepily and then close his eyes again. "Come on up, it's Saturday, no lessons."

Yugi ignored him, everyone else in the dorm grumbled at him and went back to sleep again. Harry looked around, unable to shake the cheery feeling.

No one woke up, so Harry got dressed and went down to the common room. He appeared to be the only person awake, so with nothing else to do he started on his homework. By the time Ron and Hermione came down the stairs, followed closely by Yugi, Harry was putting the finishing touches on his DADA essay.

Ron dropped onto the chair next to Harry. "So what are you going to do for the rest of the day?" He asked, eyeing Harry's essay enviously.

"I dunno what do you want to do?" Harry asked.

Ron blinked at him. "Did you forget mate, Hermione and I are going to Hogsmeade for that extra apparition lesson?"

Harry nodded slowly, he had forgotten. Maybe it was a chance to try and get into the Room of Requirement again.

Harry followed Hermione and Ron down to the Great Hall to see them off. Ron seemed a little nervous about the test; Harry knew that his friend really wanted to pass the first time around. Yami walked next to Harry, Yugi balanced on his slim shoulders. With the elf on his shoulder's the two of them just reached Harry's height, Harry tried not to laugh, he was going to need their help and he doubted either of them would be especially pleased with a jab at their height, or lack-thereof.

"See you later guys, good luck." Harry said, giving Hermione a hug and clapping Ron on this shoulder.

Yugi wriggled and Yami put him down, "I am going with Hermione." Yugi stated and trotted over to her.

Harry blinked. "Why."

Yami frowned, "I will come with you then."

Yugi shook his head firmly, "Stay with Harry, I am not very far away and I need a change of scenery."

"I am coming with you." Yami insisted. Harry nodded; he was with Yami on this one. He didn't know if it was parental instincts, but he didn't think that Yugi should be going off on his own. Hermione and Ron didn't quite count in Harry's eyes and he knew they didn't count at all to Yami.

Yugi shook his head. "You two are going to stay here and relearn to get along." Yugi's gaze shifted to Yami. Harry realised that Yugi was talking about the fact that Yami still hadn't forgiven Harry for hurting Yugi. Harry looked at the Shade who was now glaring at a passing pair of seventh years who nearly fainted in terror. Harry shouldn't have figured that he would be forgiven that easily, Yami could hold a grudge like no other.

Yugi looked between them and once the seventh years had passed out of earshot he continued. "Stay." He held out one finger and nodded. Yami scowled and fixed his gaze at the ground. Harry shuffled his feet slightly.

Hermione picked Yugi up and the three of them left Harry standing with Yami. The Shade turned his head and glared at Harry. Harry found himself glaring back. "What, it's not my fault."

"Hmph." Yami grunted. "What are we going to do then?" Yami watched Harry with blank red eyes.

Harry considered his options. He could go back to the common room and do more homework, or he could try and get into the Room of Requirement again. With Yami there to help it might go a little better.

"We could try and see what Malfoy is up to." Harry suggested tentatively.

Yami's eyes sparked. "Works for me." The Shade turned and headed back the way they came. Harry ran to catch him up, for someone with such short legs Yami could move fast. "Just wait a second; we need to check where Malfoy is."

Yami grabbed Harry by the arm and pulled him into a hidden alcove. Harry's back slammed into the stone work. "So look." Yami said.

Harry muttered to himself and pulled out the Marauder's Map while Yami kept an eye out. Harry couldn't find Malfoy anywhere on the Map, but Goyle was lurking in the seventh floor corridor. Harry stowed the Map away. "I think Malfoy is in the Room, will that matter?"

Yami turned his head slightly and pulled Harry out from behind the hangings. "It should not."

As the two of them made their way up to the seventh floor, Harry looked at the Shade. "So how do we do this?"

Yami shrugged, "Is there anyone watching out for him?" Harry nodded. "I will scare him off and then we can tackle the concealing spells."

Harry looked around the corner. The only person in the hallway was a tiny first year girl carrying a set of bronze scales. Yami moved around him, Harry grabbed his arm. "Wait, that's not Goyle."

Yami frowned and stepped back. "I thought you said that he was standing in the corridor, he is the only human there."

Harry blinked, surely Yami could tell between human genders, he had never seemed to get confused before. "He? That's a girl, a first year probably."

Yami looked confused and took a second look. "I have no idea what you are talking about."

Harry pulled out the Map again. "I solemnly swear I am up to no good." The inky corridors appeared across the ancient piece of parchment and Harry turned to the corridor. He found his and Yami's dots, the Shade appearing in his human form and looked down the corridor to their left. Gregory Goyle was the only dot present.

Harry blinked. "He must be using Polyjuice Potion." Yami just stared at him, so Harry explained. "It's a potion that lets you look like someone else."

Yami nodded, "Human magic, that is why I can still see a male human."

Harry grinned. "Alright, go for your life." Harry stepped out of Yami's way. The Shade flowed around the corner, his human form dissolving in pieces as he went. Harry watched as Yami surrounded Goyle. Harry found it difficult to believe that Goyle couldn't see Yami. The living shadow was so obvious. The little girl started to shake, her eyes rolled in her head and tears leaked from her eyes. Yami whirled and she dropped her scales with a clatter, she screamed in absolutely terror and bolted from the corridor, away from Harry.

Harry grabbed his bag and jogged over to Yami, who was reforming his human form, grinning.

Harry dropped his bag and set it against the opposite wall. "How do you make sure she...er he doesn't just faint?"

"Years of practice." Yami replied and looked at the wall. "So now what?"

Harry considered the wall, human magic hadn't worked; earth magic was no longer an option. "Could you open it?" He asked Yami.

Yami examined the wall a little closer. Then he stepped back, a flick of his fingers sent four bursts of shadow from his fingers either way along the corridor. Harry supposed they were spells to warn them in anyone was approaching.

Then the Shade came and stood behind Harry, reaching up Yami placed his hands on Harry shoulders. Shadows enveloped them both sending chills up Harry's arms. "I do not quite understand what it is you want to do, but the magic which allows the Room to remain hidden is Shade, and only a Shade will be able to command it above the magic which already guides it." Yami's deep voice rumbled softly in Harry's ear.

"You mean there is Shade magic in Hogwarts?" Harry asked, amazed.

"There is magic from all species here, elf and Shade, centaur and giant and many more besides. Whoever created this castle used powers beyond the understanding of most humans to protect and influence it. That is what has allowed Hogwarts to remain standing for so long, undefeated." Yami voice was little more than a murmur in Harry's ear.

"So what are you going to do?" Harry asked. The Shade's proximity was unnerving and exciting at the same time.

"I am going to do very little. Lending you my magic would kill you, however if you open your mind to me, I can use my magic as you direct."

"What do I do?" Harry asked.

"Open your mind and let me in." Yami murmured, his shadows darkened further until all Harry could see was the swirling inky depths of Yami true form. Harry didn't quite know what to do, so he just relaxed and waited. There were several moments of silence and finally Yami growled in irritation. "You are not good at this."

"What do you expect; I have no idea what you are trying to do." Harry retorted and folded his arms across his chest.

"You need to open your mind and allow me to see what you want. Focus on what you wish to achieve." Yami hissed.

Harry shrugged his shoulders and just concentrated on what he wanted from the Room. He wanted to see the Room that it became for Malfoy. He wanted to get into the Room where Malfoy was.

An icy hand ran down his spine and his vision shifted, now he was seeing things in a swirl of colour. The walls shone bronze, veined in more colours than Harry even thought existed. The colours seemed to focus and intensify on one particular stone in the wall facing him. Harry focused on it, the centre of the stone was marked with a single point of what could only be Shade magic, as Harry looked closer he realised that it was a key hole.

Harry reached out a hand; shadows swirled from his fingers and touched the key. _Become what you become for Malfoy. _Harry thought as hard as he could. The colours on the walls began to spin, red flared and diminished to be replaced with silver-blue until with a flash of gold a door appeared. Harry stepped forward and in doing so broke Yami's concentration. The colours disappeared and Harry was left facing a plain wooden door. He stepped up and opened the door, to be faced with a broom cupboard. Harry slammed the door shut and turned to Yami. The Shade looked puzzled and stepped past Harry.

He opened the door and stood silently for a moment. He turned his head and shadows spread out from him. Harry watched, furious. "Well, I thought you said this would work."

"It would, but the room has safety spells within it, to prevent the room being forcibly changed while someone is inside."

"Can't you go around them?"

Yami shook his head, "The safety spells are earth magic and human magic, they are not something that I can alter, I doubt anyone could. That is the idea." Yami stepped back and closed the door which then disappeared.

"Isn't there something we can do, we need to know what Malfoy is doing, he's working for Voldemort!"

Yami sighed, "I know, but there is nothing I can do, the spells are not something I can change. Once he has left the room I can change it, but there are so many different things that the room can become there is no way to tell which version of it he is using."

Harry kicked his bag and glared at the blank wall. A total waste of time.

He grabbed his bag and stalked off. Hopefully Hermione and Ron were having fun in Hogsmeade, because otherwise today was going to have been a complete bust.

* * *

_I hope you all liked this chapter. _

_We're getting towards the business end of this story and I'm looking forward to writing the fight scene at the end. I only hope I can do it justice._


	26. Luck

_Wow I have done absolutely no writing this week at all. I've been too busy reading fics, got really caught up in it and went through 82 pages of stories in six hours._

_Anyway, here's this week's chapter, hope you enjoy._

Chapter 26: Luck

Harry looked up from his breakfast at the third year that had edged up to him. "Sorry, I was asked to give this to you." She handed a folded piece of parchment to Harry and scampered away. Harry frowned at it. "I thought I wasn't going to have another lesson with Dumbledore until I got the memory?" He commented to Ron and Hermione.

They both leaned in as Harry opened the letter. Yugi glanced up and waited. It wasn't from Dumbledore, it was from Hagrid and by the smudges and wet patches on the note it had been written in a storm of tears. Harry read through it and set the letter down; he wasn't sure how he was supposed to feel about this.

"Aragog died, Hagrid wants us to come down tonight to help bury him." Harry told his friends. Yugi looked sad and picked up the letter to read himself.

Ron shook his head in amazement, "Does he actually think that we would be sorry about that monster being dead?"

Hermione glared at Ron, "Aragog was Hagrid's pet Ron of course he is going to be upset. I'm more surprised that he would ask us to come down, after all we aren't supposed to be out after dark, it's dangerous."

Harry looked at her, "I think it's strange that everyone is still worried about Death Eaters breaking into Hogwarts." Harry retorted. Hermione opened her mouth to argue, blinked and nodded her head in agreement. Harry didn't think that going out after dark was going to make a difference to whether or not Yami was watching out for Death Eaters, if anything the Shade was more active at night.

"So are you going to go?" She asked.

Harry shook his head, "Not sure. I still need to find a way to get that memory off of Slughorn."

Hermione looked at him, "I think you should try the Felix Felicis."

Ron's head came up, "Hey yeah, I never thought of that."

Harry grimaced, "I was sort of hoping to save that."

Hermone gave him a steady look. "For what, Harry that memory is important."

They all stopped talking for a moment, to let a group of Hufflepuff's pass by. Harry sighed, "Fine, I'll have one more go today during potions, and then I'll use the Luck Potion."

Harry settled down into the potions room. There were only three of them, Ernie MacMillan, Harry and Malfoy. Everyone else was taking the apparition tests upstairs. Harry settled into his seat and Slughorn got to his feet, ready to tell them about the lesson. He was stalled by the door opening again. Yami padded in with Yugi on his hip. The elf was looking upwards and Yami's shadows appeared to be twitching uncomfortably. He stopped and looked at Yugi. The elf turned his attention back down and nodded. Yami set him on a nearby chair and sat on one himself.

"The apparitions are annoying." He said by way of explanation.

Slughorn glanced at Harry who shrugged, as confused as he was. "Well, since there are so few of us I thought we might abandon the usual lessons and I would like you to make me something cheerful."

Slughorn returned to his desk with a slightly disturbed look at Yami. Yami leant back in his chair, rocking it back onto two legs. "Why do I get the feeling this is going to be incredibly boring?"

Harry ignored the Shade and pulled out the Prince's book to look up a potion.

Yugi spent the lesson drawing and Yami moved to the floor where he spent the lesson meditating. Harry recognised the signs from summer, no breathing with his body only partially formed, eyes slightly open.

"Alright everyone times up, let's see what you've all come up with." Slughorn waddled around the room. Harry didn't know what Ernie had tried to make, but it smelt terrible. Malfoy's potion was deemed good and finally Slughorn stopped at Harry's cauldron where his Essence of Euphoria now sat cooling. "Excellent Harry." His teacher proclaimed.

Yugi stood up on his chair and looked into the cauldron. He reached out a hand and dipped a finger into the pale yellow potion. Yami got to his feet in a swell of shadows and stepped forward. He grabbed Yugi's hand as the elf went to lick his fingers. "I do not think so, you have enough cheerful." Yami muttered.

Slughorn chuckled and smiled down at Yugi in what Harry guessed was supposed to be a fatherly way, by Yugi's face it didn't entirely work. "Sir.." Harry called out, but Slughorn had already instructed the others to clean up and had left the room. Harry glared at the closed door, bottled his potion and left it on Slughorn's desk.

He picked up Yugi and went to find Hermione and Ron, Yami vanishing off on his own.

Harry was waiting when Hermione and Ron arrived back from their tests. Ron's face was glum while Hermione looked pleased with herself. "Did you pass?" Harry asked her.

"Yes, and Ron nearly passed, he was so close." Hermione gave their friend a pitying look.

Ron shrugged and glared at Hermione, "So how'd you go getting the memory?"

Harry shook his head, "No good, I'll try the potion at the end of the day."

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Yami made his way around the corner and nearly ran into Harry. The human was underneath his Invisibility Cloak and had a strange aura around him. /He has taken a Lucky Potion to get Slughorn to give him the memory. Can you keep an eye on him?/ Yugi sent.

Harry had walked straight past Yami without even noticing him, so Yami backtracked and traced the human out into the grounds. Harry had managed to get out of the doors and was heading down to the half-giants.

Yami wound his way around, he made an effort to keep out of Harry's way and sight, he had no idea how this potion worked so he didn't risk affecting it at all, even calling most of the darkings away from the young human. Harry strolled along, apparently not in a hurry, frequently humming to himself.

As he approached the greenhouses Harry strode around a corner and ran into the large Potions Master. Harry pulled the Invisibility Cloak off of his head and the two of them conversed for a minute and then separated. Slughorn continued up to the castle and Harry wandered on down to Hagrid's.

Yami frowned and followed Harry; he hoped the human knew what he was doing. Hagrid came to meet Harry, sobbing into what appeared to be a tablecloth. Yami left the two of them and skirted the hut to the back garden. Sitting curled up was the dead Acromantula, Yami had encountered several smaller specimens in the forest. Their magical webs had trapped several darkings, which were a treat for the giant spiders. He had never met one this large though; Yami swirled around it checking that it was indeed dead. The darkings held back, not willing to approach their only predator even in death.

Soon sounds caught Yami's senses and he backed off, hiding among the pumpkins. He felt slightly ridiculous, but settled himself as comfortable as possible out of sight and just watched. Harry, Hagrid and Slughorn stood around the hole the half-giant had dug to bury the giant spider. Harry seemed to unaware of Yami's presence and after everyone had said something, Hagrid pushed the spider into the hole and Slughorn waved his wand sending the dirt back into the hole. /How are things going?/ Yugi asked.

/Hard to tell, Harry seems very confident though./ Yami replied and made his way up to the window to look inside the hut. The three humans were now drinking, a lot. Yami frowned, despite appearing to Harry wasn't drinking; he was only pretending and watching the two adults with bright eyes. Finally after a great deal of yelling and drinking Harry leant in and spoke softly to Slughorn. The fat human looked sad and after a little more conversation he touched his wand to his temple and drew out a strand of the same silvery liquid-gas which filled the pensive. After he had filled a vial with it, he lay his head down on the table and slept. Harry pocketed the vial and left the room.

Yami circled the hut to meet him at the front door. /Yugi he has it, can you meet us at Dumbledore's office?/ Harry grinned at Yami and waved the vial around. Yami formed himself a pair of eyes for the purpose of rolling them at Harry.

/I will be right there./ Yugi returned.

Harry was making his way, under the Invisibility Cloak towards the castle doors. Yami followed close at his heels. Harry snuck carefully in through the doors and headed up towards the common room. Yami took human form in front of him. "Yugi is meeting us at Dumbledore's office." He said.

Harry grinned and nodded taking the left passage instead. Yugi was waiting by the gargoyle when they arrived at the Headmaster's office. Harry held up the bottle triumphantly and then the look of delight on his face faded slightly. "Do you know the password?"

Yami rolled his eyes and tweaked the magic causing the gargoyle to spring to the side. Harry stared in amazement. "How'd you do that?"

Yami shrugged and picked up Yugi. "It is what I was trying to do with the Room of Requirement."

Harry followed them up the stairs. "Is that what you did to let the twins into the Slytherin common room last year?"

Yami smirked and nodded as they stepped through the door into Dumbledore's inner office.

The old wizard was standing next to the phoenixes perch. The fire-bird's head snapped up and it let off a shrill cry. Yami was prevented from attacking by Yugi grabbing a fist full of his shadow woven hair and pulling, hard. With Yami's entire form writhing in discomfort Dumbledore hustled the bird out of the window.

Yugi let go and Yami dissolved his human form to go sulk in the corner.

"Professor I got it, I got the memory." Harry had backed right out of the way as soon as Fawkes had started singing, but now he stepped forward and held out the glass vial.

Dumbledore turned back from closing the window and looked delighted, "Excellent Harry, well no time like the present." Dumbledore took the bottled memory from Harry and retrieved the Pensive. Yugi hurried over and climbed onto a chair. He glanced over his shoulder at Yami and looked apologetic. /I am sorry are you coming./

/Yes./ Yami told him, calling the darkings out to keep guard, he slunk over and merged his mind with Yugi's.

They were once again in the room with Slughorn and the students, including Voldemort. Yami half-listened to the chatting and waited for the sudden surge of human magic which had knocked him and Yugi flying last time. It didn't come, as Voldemort asked what a Horcrux was instead Slughorn looked nervous and replied. "Well Tom, where did you read about that?" Slughorn shifted and looked around, as though worried that someone would be listening in.

"I read it in a library book Professor, but it didn't explain what it was and it aroused my curiosity." Voldemort replied, his tone was politely interested but his face was intent.

Slughorn shuffled uncertainly. "Well, I'll tell you Tom, but keep it to yourself; it is a banned topic at Hogwarts."

"Of course Professor." Voldemort replied easily.

"Horcruxes are very dark magic; they are an item which contains a piece of a wizard's soul." Slughorn coughed and looked at Voldemort who had to work hard to hide his delight.

"How are they made sir?" Voldemort asked.

Slughorn's nervousness was increasing, but he still answered. "The wizard must commit an act of great evil, something such as murder."

Voldemort considered that. Yami sighed; murder would certainly not be something which would bother him. Yugi shivered, the elf didn't like where this was going.

"Could you possibly make more than one Horcrux sir, say seven?"

"Good gracious Tom, surely splitting ones soul once is bad enough, but splintering it into seven pieces." Slughorn looked frightened now.

Voldemort calmed him with surprising ease. "This is all theoretical sir; purely academic."

Slughorn didn't look entirely convinced, "Of course, of course. Now Tom you really should go."

"Yes sir." Voldemort got to his feet his dark eyes flashing with an intense delight and desire that made Yami long for his emotive spells.

Dumbledore nodded, "Very well that is enough." Yami pulled out of Yugi's mind as the elf and the two humans withdrew from the memory.

Harry looked at Dumbledore, "So Voldemort made a Horcrux?"

Yugi shuddered.

Dumbledore nodded, "Yes, but if you notice he specifically asked about the possibility of creating seven. So I think we can safely assume that he made at least seven Horcruxes. We will hope that he made no more or our task will turn from impossible to unthinkable. However the Horcruxes are the reason he has lived so long and why he was able to survive the curse which rebounded back at him from you."

Yami twitched into human-form. "That would also be the tainting I am able to sense." He said.

Dumbledore nodded, "I think it may very well be, and that could be a very useful thing for us to be able to access, if you are willing to help."

Yami smirked, "Help destroy Voldemort piece by piece, you can count me in human."

Dumbledore nodded, "Of course we need to consider what he could possibly have turned into Horcruxes. I think that you have already destroyed one Harry."

Harry lifted his head and blinked in confusion. "I have Professor?"

"Yes Harry the diary you destroyed in your second year. I have no doubt that it was a Horcrux, no memory or spell could create something so life-like, so capable of possessing a human as you described." Dumbledore said. "And I believe that I have destroyed one myself."

Harry frowned for a moment. Yugi looked puzzled and Yami was confused, he had sensed not other tainting in the school or around Dumbledore. Suddenly Harry's face lit up, "The Ring, Marvolo's ring, that was a Horcrux?"

Dumbledore looked pleased, "Yes Harry, so we are down to five."

Yami's head came up and he glanced at Yugi, while the two humans discussed other possible Horcruxes. /Yugi, the tainting I destroyed last year?/

/You said it was the same tainting as is on Voldemort./ Yugi replied, his eyes flashed in delight.

Yami paused and looked at him seriously, /What about Harry, the same tainting is on.../

Yugi cut him off, /No that must be an artefact from his associations with Voldemort./

Yami could tell by the elf's tone that he was going to believe that, no matter what Yami said. Yami sighed and stored the thought away before he interrupted the two humans. "I may have destroyed one." He told them.

Dumbledore blinked in surprise. "Indeed, where?"

"Right here. Last year I sensed a tainting that reminded me of Voldemort so I located it and after a bit of trial and error I destroyed it." Yami told him. "Admittedly it was rather spectacular."

Dumbledore paused and thought, "Ah, that unknown magical explosion in the holidays last year, that was you?"

Yami nodded so Dumbledore continued, "May I ask what the item you destroyed was, it may make whittling our list down a little easier."

Yami frowned. He hadn't really paid attention to the physical presence of the item he had destroyed. "It was a piece of old silver, sort of a ring, large enough to fit on a human head."

Dumbledore seemed to consider it. His head lifted, "I think you just discovered Ravenclaw's lost diadem." With a slight chuckle he added. "Filius will be most distressed."

Yami stared at him blankly, Yugi had a querying noise and even Harry looked confused. "It would fit in with our idea Harry, Slytherin's locket, Hufflepuff's cup, the snake, the ring and Ravenclaw's diadem, the only thing which has always been associated with her. The diadem is supposed to convey a great deal of wisdom on the wearer. Could you show me where it is Yami?" Dumbledore looked hopeful.

Yami shook his head and smiled. "The spell I used to destroy the tainting destroyed this diadem as well."

Dumbledore nodded. "Of course, well anyway it seems we are another one down."

Harry was frowning. "How can you destroy a Horcrux?" He looked at Dumbledore.

The old wizard nodded, "A good question Harry. I will be the first to admit that it is not easy, but it seems that Shade magic can do it."

"What about earth magic?" Harry asked, and then clapped a hand over his mouth in shock. Yami realised that Harry had not been thinking about who was in the room when he was asking that question. Dumbledore frowned. "I don't know what you mean Harry." He glanced at Yugi and Yami. Yami was glaring and Yugi shifted reluctantly. /Tell him Yami, not too much detail, he must know something about it after all he uses earth magic in his magic./

Yami glanced at him. "Earth magic is an elfin power, an ancient magic tied into the lifeblood of the world. It could possibly destroy these Horcruxes, but it would require some experimentation. Surely you know of the magic, after all you use it." Yami told Dumbledore, the old wizard blinked.

Harry blinked looking between them both in confusion. "You must be mistaken, I have never even heard of this earth magic, let alone used it." Dumbledore said.

Yami frowned and Yugi made a soft confused sound. "I can sense the earth magic in all of your spells human, do not lie to us." Yami said. Yugi affirmed it to Yami; the elf could sense the earth magic powering Dumbledore's human spells.

Dumbledore's fingers twitched, "I assure you I am not lying, I have never to my knowledge used anything other than human magic."

Suddenly Yugi started and tugged vigorously on a strand of Yami's hair. Yami dipped his head so that Yugi would whisper in his ear. "It could be the wand, the Treaty Wand, ask him if I can have a look please."

Yami put forward the request. "May we see your wand?" It wasn't really a question, but Dumbledore hesitated for a moment before drawing out his wand and handing it carefully over to the Shade. Yami held it between his own slim fingers allowing Yugi to examine it carefully. Harry reached out and caught a tiny amount of earth magic.

Yami watched out of the corner of his eye, Harry had only drawn up enough to allow him to see the magic; by the puzzled look on his face he could see nothing.

Once Yugi had examined the wand thoroughly Yami handed it back, though Yugi watched it with interest and allowed what he had found to filter through their bond to Yami. "Your wand is elfin made; it incorporates some earth magic into your human workings without you even being aware of it." Yami informed the two humans.

Dumbledore tucked his wand away in his robes. "I didn't think that humans had shared wand-lore secrets with the elves."

Yami shrugged, "All I know is what Yugi has told me, he says it is of elfin make."

Dumbledore nodded, though he seemed to be holding back an intense interest and forced himself to turn back to Harry.

Yami could sense Yugi's excitement; apparently he was sure that Dumbledore's wand was one of the mysterious gifts the elves had given to the humans in accordance with the Peace Treaty. Yami had no idea why this made the elf so excited, the gifts were given to humans so by elfin law no elf could take them back.

Yugi looked at him and rolled his eyes, /It is the principle of it, the humans lost our gifts and now we have found one of them, possibly two./ Yami shrugged.

Dumbledore was talking again, "Well Harry I think I may be onto another, so if you are willing when I am sure of the location of the next Horcrux you are welcome to come with me."

Harry looked delighted, "Really Professor?"

Dumbledore chuckled, "Of course."

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Harry frowned as he considered everything Dumbledore had told him. "So when we destroy all of Voldemort's Horcruxes then we will be able to kill him."

Dumbledore nodded, "Yes Harry, but remember that despite his mutilated soul, Voldemort is still a wizard of incredible skill."

Yami hissed softly as Harry said quietly, "And I haven't got much magical skill."

Dumbledore shook his head. "You do Harry, you can..."

"I can love, yeah sir I know." Harry cut in; he really didn't see how that was going to help him.

Yugi smiled and glanced at Dumbledore who was watching Harry. "Yes Harry you can love, which gives you an advantage which Voldemort does not even know exists."

"And what's that Professor?" Harry privately thought that the earth magic was a better power the Dark Lord knows not.

"Voldemort granted you a great deal of power when he tried to kill you, he allowed to you access his mind without harm, he made your mother give you a protective charm which he could never break and he gave you an unquenchable desire to get retribution for your parent's deaths." Dumbledore had risen to his feet and was watching Harry intently. Harry still wasn't convinced. "If you do not believe me then look at the two people standing beside you."

Harry looked down at Yugi and Yami. They both watched him calmly. "What about them sir?"

"Do you think that just anyone could become a parent to an elf? Only someone who is pure of heart could possibly hope to be able to care for and love an elfin-child and allow them to survive."

Yugi smiled.

"And what other human in the world has a Shade who fights for him. A creature once thought to be nothing more than a symbol of death and terror now fights beside you." Yami lifted an eyebrow, but remained silent.

"Only because Yugi..." Harry started.

Dumbledore cut him off. "Exactly Harry, you accepted Yugi and that allows you to resist Shade magic, your ability to love allows you access to powers that Voldemort himself could never consider controlling. Years ago he tried to trick the Shades into fighting for him. You have one fighting with you because he wants to."

Harry looked over at Yami; the Shade met his gaze calmly and nodded slightly. Harry looked back at Dumbledore. "So we find the Horcruxes. We kill Voldemort."

Yami hissed and Yugi trilled in agreement. Dumbledore met Harry's emerald eyes with his own crystalline blue and nodded.

* * *

_It's nice to really get things moving, but in true classical style; this is where things go horribly wrong._


	27. Fury

Chapter 27: Fury

Harry hurried towards the bathroom, he had a few minutes between Charms and Potions and he wanted to check the Marauder's map to see what Malfoy was up to. Yugi trotted along in his wake and Harry knew that Yami was hovering around the corner as he had spotted the Shade when he had come out of Charms.

Harry reached out a hand to push on the bathroom door when he heard someone crying inside. Harry paused and looked down at Yugi; the elf looked a little worried and pressed one ear to the wooden door.

Harry pushed open the door slowly and a familiar voice sobbed to someone. "I'll never get it done..."

"Oh now, you will." Harry recognised Moaning Myrtle's sorrowful voice.

"No I won't and then he'll kill me." Malfoy cried.

Harry stepped around the corner with Yugi at his heels. There was a cool feeling at his back so Harry supposed Yami had also followed them in.

"What the hell do you want?" Malfoy snapped at Harry as the Slytherin whirled around from where he had been leaning against a sink.

Harry couldn't stop his eyes from narrowing. "Why are you crying?" Harry retorted harshly, to think that for a moment he had been feeling sorry for the Slytherin.

"None of your business Potter." Malfoy sneered, a look not totally pulled off when coupled with his puffy red eyes. He pulled out his wand.

Harry grabbed his own and levelled it at his nemesis. "What are you gonna do Malfoy, curse me?" Harry shifted his weight to block Yugi from stepping forward. The elf's fingers curled into the fabric of Harry's robes, but he stayed behind his parent watching carefully. Yami swirled warningly behind them both.

Moaning Myrtle floated over, "Oh don't. Harry go away." A hiss from Yami sent the depressed ghost squealing into a nearby cubicle.

Malfoy whipped his wand up; taking the chance everyone's moment of distraction gave him. "Cru..." Harry didn't even have time to respond, Yami leapt for the other human with a loud snarl.

Yugi gave a horrified cry as Malfoy vanished under a mass of seething shadows. Malfoy started to scream, but Harry's mind was completely blank, what could he do? Human magic didn't work against Shades and from the look on Yugi's face Yami was ignoring him.

Then a spell rose into Harry's mind and the earth magic rose to Harry's will with hardly a conscious thought, "Sectumsempra." Harry yelled. Magic surged from the tip of his wand, the human spell providing structure and the earth magic providing the strength.

Harry had expected the spell to jerk Yami's attention away from Malfoy long enough for Yugi to get him to stop. Instead the flash of burning red slammed into Yami's shadows and the Shade began to scream.

Yugi staggered backwards, pulling desperately on Harry's robes. Harry's didn't look down instead he watched in fascination as Yami writhed in agony. Malfoy dropped from Yami's shadows to lie unconscious on the floor. Myrtle fled the room wailing, and calling for a teacher. Suddenly an intense fear grabbed Harry by the throat.

Yami was turning, and he was furious. Half human, half shadow the Shade welled to indistinct feet, his scarlet eyes pulsing with a foreign power. Harry began to shake.

"You dare, you dare!" Yami snarled as his shadows lashed at Harry. Yugi was sobbing still trying to pull Harry away, but Harry was frozen in terror. A small quiet part of his mind was trying to tell him that Yugi's spells would protect him, but the rest of his Shade magic flooded mind was telling him that his life was over, Voldemort wasn't going to kill him, Yami was.

Yami stalked forwards and with a snap of his wrist shadows lashed out from where his fingers had been moments before and slammed Harry against a wall. Pain seared its way up Harry's arm, but his throat had seized up in terror stopping his pained cry. He had never been on the receiving end of the full effect of Yami's fear inducing spells. Now he understood why people were so terrified of Shades. The fear Yami's spells were producing was numbing Harry was so terrified he couldn't even think.

Sweat was breaking out on his forehead and trickling down his back, his hands were shaking so badly that he had dropped his wand. Tears were blurring his vision and his breath was coming in staggering sobs.

"You think you can curse me?" Yami hissed stepping closer, "You have made one too many mistakes now human and I have been forgiving, this time I will not be so." Shadows tightened around Harry, buzzing filled his ears and beyond that he could just hear Yugi begging Yami to stop, but the elf's voice was too soft, too far away.

"P..p..please..." Harry stammered out, nearly crying. His heart felt like it was being crushed, his legs felt like they were made of water.

Yami hissed and threw Harry across the room where he smashed into the sinks. Harry curled up into a ball trying to make himself as small as possible, just trying not to be noticed, hoping that Yami would go away. Memories of being tormented by Dudley and his cronies rose to the surface of his mind, the night in the cemetery, in the Chamber of Secrets, Harry shivered he had never been this frightened, not by Voldemort, not by dementors, not by anyone. He could hear Yugi crying, trying to stop his furious Shade, but Yami was beyond it.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

The door to the bathroom smashed open and the ex-Death Eater lunged in, wand drawn. Yami turned away from Harry, the human was sobbing quietly, but Yugi had crawled over to him, so Yami wouldn't touch him anymore.

Yugi's protective spells were gone, smashed under the first wave of magic Yami had hit Harry with. Yami would endanger Yugi no more, but he had had enough. The teacher lifted his wand and was about to speak when the door opened for a second time. Dumbledore stepped through his own wand in his hand.

Yami decided that he didn't want to talk to either of the humans. The earth magic was burning at his shadows in revenge for his attack on Harry and endangerment of Yugi, not to mention the draining effects of Harry's attack. Yami snarled at the thought of that insolent child's stupid move. Harry's fear had helped, but Yami wanted to fill up his reserves and he had a school full of humans with which to do it.

Yami threw himself around the two teachers, his emotive spells were unleashed and enhanced with his active magic, both teachers dropped like stones, shaking and shivering as Yami's magic tore at their very existence.

Yami moved around the school like the dark cloud of despair, he sent out a call to the darkings. Tiny shadows flooded the school until the entire castle appeared to exist in a realm of twisting terror filled shadows.

Through it all Yami paced, sometimes in human form sometimes as a part of that living shadow mantle, he allowed his eyes to remain visible always, flashing like burnished coals in his anger. The sweet taste of human terror swelled around Yami, he snarled as he passed the humans huddled around the school and the taste increased.

His spells wove through the entire school. Hogwarts was home to one of the oldest and most powerful Shades in existence and now they were finding out just how strong he was.

As Yami turned his fear spells onto the students the school began to stir. The earth magic, already awoken by Yugi and Harry's use, surged up, and was consumed by the darkings. The thousands upon thousands of tiny magic fed shadows filled themselves to gorging on elemental power.

Yami let them go and the shadows which filled the school began to sparkle. The magic still seared at him, burning his edges, but it was bearable, especially with the warm inrush of energy from the terrified and screaming students.

Yami smirked in dark amusement this was what he was supposed to be, not some lap dog, a pet to be pulled out when required. He was a Shade. No one controlled him and no human should dare to try and harm him.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Harry uncurled himself as the terrifying cold ebbed. He lifted his head. Dumbledore was sitting leant against the bathroom door, and Snape was kneeling over the unconscious Malfoy.

Yugi sat next to Harry, tears running down his face. Harry pulled him into his arms, swallowing as a sharp pain stabbed through his arm, with the tiny elf close the last of Yami's fear spells faded. Screams were coming from down the hallway and everything seemed to be darker, but Harry felt alright.

Harry looked down at Yugi, the elf had his face pressed into Harry's chest and steady warmth was spreading from the centre of Harry's being.

Harry struggled to his feet and braced himself against the crumbling sink. Pain lanced afresh through Harry's right arm as well as down his left leg and across his shoulders. Harry winced and limped over to Dumbledore. The old wizard opened his eyes as Harry stepped over. "I'm sorry Professor, this is my fault."

Dumbledore gave an uneven and weak smile. "It's alright Harry." Dumbledore had to pause to take a breath, it was then that Harry realised that the warmth spreading through his system was Yugi's protective spells reactivating and that the darkness around them was Yami and his spells. "We can't have a Shade in the school without expecting something like this to happen." He looked at Yugi. "Is there a possibility of you stopping Yami, or calming him down?"

Yugi shook his head, more tears leaked from his eyes. Dumbledore sighed and got to his feet slowly. Harry reached out and allowed the Headmaster to lean on him despite the ache in his shoulders. "Serverus, how is he?"

"Alive Headmaster, I will take him to the Hospital Wing." Snape answered and narrowed his eyes at Harry as Malfoy was levitated out of the bathroom.

Dumbledore leant against the sink and studied himself in the mirror; Harry could see the fear in his eyes and marvelled that his professor was strong enough to resist the Shade spells which were slowly infusing the school. Dumbledore looked over at Harry. "I assume it is Yugi's doing that you are feeling none of this Harry."

Harry hugged the elf closer. "Yes sir, but Yami can break the spells I think, he did it before you came in."

"Yugi is there any way you can expand those spells to protect anyone else?" Dumbledore asked.

Yugi shook his head without raising his eyes; the front of Harry's robe was wet with the elf's tears.

Dumbledore gave another shuddering sigh, "Well then I think it would be best if we evacuate the school until Yami calms down again."

Harry thought this was a very good idea. "What should I do sir?"

"Go to the Great Hall Harry and take anyone you meet along the way with you." Dumbledore pulled out his wand and waved it gently muttering softly to himself.

Harry limped out of the room; pain was burning down his back and up his leg. Not to mention his arm which had to bear some of Yugi's weight. Yugi tugged on Harry's hair. "Harry stop, let me heal you or you are not going to make it to the Great Hall." Yugi voice was quiet and he seemed to be holding in a sob.

Harry was little reluctant to let Yugi use any more energy than necessary, Yami was mad enough. Yugi snorted, obviously trying to be strong and not totally succeeding and reached down to touch Harry's wrist.

Coolness replaced the burning pain in his arm, there was a soft pop and the broken bone slid back into place. The coolness spread further until it erased the throbbing in his leg and shoulders.

Harry stretched carefully thanked Yugi and then ran for the Great Hall. Yugi wrapped his arms around Harry's neck to stop himself from bouncing around.

The hallways were full to brimming with shadows which slowly were beginning to sparkle. Harry slowed, he had never seen Yami sparkle, what was going on? Harry paused and looked out a window, shadows were rippling from everyone window in the castle. "Yugi how is this happening; Yami's filled the entire castle. Surely he can't be that big?"

Yugi shook his head. "He is using his magic and a few other tricks. You made him very angry Harry."

Harry leant against the wall in despair. "I'm sorry, but I couldn't let him kill Malfoy."

"I know." Yugi said touching Harry's cheek.

"I understand why he attacked me, sort of, I mean I hurt him so I suppose it is self defence, but why is he still going and taking it out on the school. No one else has done anything wrong." Harry asked.

Yugi shook his head. "It is complicated, Yami thinks of himself as my protector and I suppose he is..."

"What about me?" Harry asked.

"Shades never consider humans in this sort of thing. Yami is better than most at accepting humans, but he will never consider your magic to be strong enough to protect me. So he is doing this to remind people that he is here and that he is so much more powerful than any of you. Unfortunately, I think that may mean that he will no let any of you leave." Yugi looked out of the window again.

Harry stepped away and continued down the corridor, "I had thought of that, so what do we do?"

Yugi bit his lip. "Wait. I will start trying to calm him down as soon as he has finished his little spat, there is no point trying now, he is like child having a tantrum, we just have to let him throw things around and be angry." This coming from the five year old, though Harry had never seen Yugi throw anything even slightly like a tantrum.

"Get it out of his system?" Harry suggested as they rounded a corner to discover Harry's potions class, Slughorn included cowering in a corner, wrapped in shadows. Hermione was panting, but she was also holding the earth magic, trying to keep the thin veil of spell ridden, sparkling shadows off the class. "Hermione" Harry yelled. Everyone looked up and several people screamed trying to back away from him.

Hermione opened her eyes. "Harry, finally, what's going on?" She looked tired and frightened, Yugi wriggled free of Harry's grip and hurried over to her.

"Don't overdo it Yugi, that's just what we need." Harry said. Yugi smiled over his shoulder as he gave Hermione a hug. Harry continued, "Look everyone needs to go to the Great Hall we're leaving Hogwarts until Yami calms down."

Slughorn swallowed, "Are you sure, my boy?" His voice wobbled.

"Yes sir I talked to Dumbledore; he's going to meet us there. Now come on." Harry pulled Hermione to her feet and everyone followed uncertainly. They arrived at the Great Hall at the same time as three other classes, two Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw first years and a seventh year Gryffindor class with Ron leading them.

Harry and Hermione hurried over to meet their friend. Ron was pale and shaky, but he looked like he was holding up okay. Harry supposed that being around Yami for more than a year meant that they were a little more resistant to his magic than the average human.

"Wow, when Yami does his nut, he really does his nut." Ron said, running his fingers through his red hair.

Harry smiled, hearing Ron make a joke seemed to lessen the strain, though he doubted that laughing would help as much as it did when faced with a dementor. As they turned to go through the doors Harry looked down at Yugi. "Would it help if we produced some patronus'?" He asked

Yugi looked horrified and shook his head vigorously, sending his long spiky hair lashing around his face.

Harry sighed, "No I suppose that would just make him mad, hey." Yugi nodded very seriously.

People were now crowding into the Great Hall; the teachers were all standing at the front of the room. Almost everyone was crying; some were so obviously terrified that they were unable to stand and just curled up on the floor shivering. The Hall was filled with shadows, dimming the sunlight streaming in through the windows, but as far as Harry could tell it wasn't Yami. These shadows were different, though still alive and sparkling brightly.

Dumbledore hurried through the doors with the final group of students. "Alright everyone, please follow your Heads of Houses we will be leaving the grounds until this can be sorted out." Harry stood on his toes and looked for McGonagall, their Transfiguration teacher was pale and her lips were pressed tightly together as she ushered the sobbing and shaking first years out of the room instructing the rest of the Gryffindor's to follow.

Harry hung back, and with Ron and Hermione took the rear. Yugi had his head on Harry's shoulder with his eyes closed. Harry hoped he was working out a way to convince Yami to let them out of the school.

They all trooped down the path to the gates and stopped. Harry tried to look over everyone's heads, but he couldn't see anything, they were too far back in the mass of students. Ron was standing on his toes so Harry asked him. "What's going on?"

"It's Yami, he's just standing there, I don't know what you did Harry, but he looks seriously pissed off." Ron replied.

Yami spoke, his deep rich voice reaching right back to the Hufflepuff's at the back. More and more people were crying while a few people had fainted and were now being levitated. "I do not think so. You will remain here."

"I understand your anger but I cannot allow you to harm my students." Dumbledore said, though Harry could hear his voice wavering, being at the front the Headmaster was probably being hit with the full force of Yami's fear spells.

There was a loud beautiful screech and Fawkes dived from nowhere towards Yami. Harry was still unable to see, but from the sudden surge of shadows which lashed back at the flame-bird Yami was not going to just give up.

Flame burnt away shadows, some of which were sparkling brightly in the dimness. For each lash of shadows which was burnt away another replaced it reaching out to consume the flames which ate away at it. Harry swallowed, Fawkes may be a phoenix, but Yami had a near limitless source of energy in the watching students.

Neville was standing near Harry his face in his hands, Dean was sobbing and Seamus was being carried by Ron. Harry looked around, the more energy Yami had to expend the more he was going to draw on the students. Several more people collapsed, unable to stand the drain of terror on their minds and bodies. Harry looked down at Yugi desperately, there had to be something he could do.

Yugi met Harry's eyes and nodded, and then he whistled loudly, right next to Harry's ear. The surging battle of shadow and fire backed off immediately and Fawkes took to the sky again, though he remained circling above the students. "Go back inside Dumbledore, no one is leaving Hogwarts." Yami said.

Students were sobbing as the teachers turned them back to the school. Several people tried to make a break for the gate, but the nearest teacher stopped them. Harry looked over his shoulder as people moved past giving him a clear view of the gates. Yami still stood there veiled in shadows. The Shade's burning eyes met his and Harry looked away.

The teachers barricaded them all in the common rooms, most people didn't return to the dorms instead McGonagall and Charity Burbage, the Muggle Studies professor filled the common room with sleeping bags and everyone camped out on the floor. Most people cried themselves to sleep, but those few who were awake long enough drifted off to sleep with Yugi's chillingly sweet voice chasing away the last few scraps of shadows which invaded the Gryffindor tower.

* * *

_He, he that was kind of fun, I hope you all enjoyed it._

_I've nearly finished writing this; I'm just struggling through the last two chapters now. I know what I want to happen, but it just refuses to come out in a nice fluid way. Ah well, I'll get there._


	28. Invasion

Chapter 28: Invasion

Yami prowled his way through the empty corridors of Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry. It was early morning and everyone was asleep, everyone except a certain bright eyed elf who was politely telling Yami off.

Yami wasn't entirely sure how someone could be so nice and so irritated at the same time. Yami didn't really say much, except repeating that he was sorry. It was a blatant lie and Yugi knew it. Yami wasn't sorry, Yami was never sorry. Harry had attacked him, threatened him and in doing so he had threatened Yugi's safety. Yami had forgiven Harry for the last time. This time he had gotten his revenge, and it had been worth it.

The Gryffindor's were now inaccessible; Yugi had sealed off the common room. Yami had calmed down a little overnight and was wandering around the corridors surrounded by thousands of over energised darkings.

/So you have finished your little spat then?/ Yugi sent.

Yami flowed back into shadow form and rounded a corner. /It was not a spat, but yes. I would not recommend coming out yet, there are darkings everywhere./

Yugi gave a mental sigh and agreed. Then something twanged. Yami rolled and headed for the alarm. The earth magic was still swarming around the school so the corridors were being changed almost constantly, sometimes when Yami was halfway along one. Unfortunately this also meant that Yami's boundary spells were dulled down, he couldn't feel them as well as he should be able to. Yami pressed on, sometimes outside of the castle. The twang came again. There were Death Eaters at the gates. Yami snarled. /What?/ Yugi asked.

/Did Dumbledore send a message out of the castle?/ Yami asked as he made his way rapidly to the outer boundaries of the school with a thousand darkings trailing behind him. If the Headmaster had sent a message to the Ministry then it was possible that Voldemort had heard about it.

/I do not know, why?/ Yugi replied.

/There is a horde of Death Eaters at the gates./ Yami replied as he reached the gates, there were nearly thirty humans and a mass of dementors.

/I will tell Harry./ Yugi said.

/No, I do not want to hear from him, see him or have anything to do with him anymore./ Yami snapped down the bond. Yugi went very quiet; Yami winced as he watched the Death Eaters giving orders to the others around them. They obviously thought that because Yami had attacked the students he wasn't going to protect the school. Did they not realise that as long as Yugi was within these walls Yami would guard them until the end of time? Stupid humans.

Yami rocked backwards and waited, there was a bit of arguing about exactly how they were going to attack. Yami waited patiently, the darkings dashing around him energetically. Surrounded by so many darkings Yami was hidden from the dementors senses, what a nice surprise for them.

Finally the Death Eaters came to some sort of agreement. Yami waited and the dementors swept over the boundary into the school. /Yami what was that? The walls are singing./ Yugi sounded alarmed.

Yami didn't reply, simply allowing an image of the invading Death Eaters to filter through their bond. Yugi went very quiet and Yami could sense his concern. Thankfully Yugi knew that Yami was much better at this sort of thing and the elf just let him go.

Yami waited until all the dementors were inside the grounds and the Death Eaters had followed them. Then he sealed the gates and set the darkings on the humans. Yami hadn't reeled in his fear spells from yesterday so he redirected them on the Death Eaters as well.

He didn't even bother tempering them. Three quarters of the Death Eaters collapsed immediately. Yami examined the remaining conscious humans; they were trembling and shaking, babbling uncontrollably. Interesting. Normally he would adjust the amount of strength behind the spells depending on the number of humans he was trying to effect. Turns out when you didn't do that the effect on the humans was quite startling.

Yami snickered and moved closer taking human form as the dementors turned and headed back. The darkings dashed over to Yami's cousin-race, consuming the dementors latent magic almost before it was released. Yami turned his head. "Leave now and I will not destroy you." Yami told the dementors. They were all watching him from under their hoods. Yami flexed his magical muscles.

The dementors moved, they weren't the most intelligent of races, but they did know when they were outnumbered. A hundred dementors against one blood-eyed Shade with captured humans was guaranteed to end in a hundred dead dementors. Yami followed the dementors to the gates and as they began to leave he hit the last three with his death spell. The spell dragged on his strength and sent his vision a little wonky for a moment, but the last three dementors vanished with a whisper of shifting fabric.

Yami looked down at the Death Eaters. The unconscious ones were unlikely to wake up anytime soon and the others all appeared to have gone insane.

/Yugi can you get Dumbledore to send a message to his Order to come and collect thirty Death Eaters?/ Yami asked and settled cross-legged on the ground to watch the shivering humans.

/Alright./ Yugi replied. Moments last he asked a question. /Dumbledore wants to make sure that you won't attack the Order people who come into the school./

/So long as they do nothing more than come through the gates, collect the Death Eaters and leave. If they try and come further into the school then they are mine./ Yami replied and poked one of the Death Eaters with his toe, the man didn't even shift.

/Okay they will be here in a few minutes./ Yugi said.

Yami eyed the Death Eaters and then leant closer. He shook his head. Now that he looked at the humans lying in front of him, only two of the thirty humans were actually Death Eaters, the others either had traces of the controlling spell on them or lacked the dark tainting which marked them as Death Eaters. Yami leant backwards. Voldemort must be starting to run out of Death Eaters who could fight, what with those he had been losing to the Shades their numbers were starting to dwindle.

The darkings swirled around him; those which had been following these Death Eaters had mingled with the mass of others and were lost. There was no way that Yami would be able to tap into the spy network with the darkings so high on earth magic, he would have to wait to see what effect this little downfall would have on Voldemort's plans.

His boundary spells sung out again and Yami turned to watch the Order members walk into the school. They were followed closely by several of the Dark Wizard catchers called Aurors. Yami shifted around until his human form was standing. Yugi mentally poked him, so Yami backed off allowing the frightened and wary humans to enter the school and approach the unconscious Death Eaters and their followers.

The Order members knelt down to check the unconscious humans. The Aurors were watching Yami. "Shade, you have proved yourself to be a danger. We will be removing you from this school." One of them yelled. Yami swelled his shadows and readied himself. If the humans were stupid enough to attack him then they deserved to receive fear spells in the face. Yami knew what his spells could do to a small number of people now, and it was very entertaining. /Yami!/ Yugi called.

/Only if they attack, if they leave peacefully then they can go. I have full reserves and no issue with them./ Yami replied, the true Shade part of his self was a little disgusted that he would let prey get away so easily, but the elf tamed part was content that they had so far done nothing wrong.

The Aurors lifted their wands so Yami decided to cut them off. "If you attack me I will kill you, take the Death Eaters and leave and you are free to go."

The grizzled Order member who was also an Auror stumped over. "Dumbledore sent us a message saying you had attacked the students and that makes you dangerous."

Yami snorted. "I have always been dangerous; I am a Shade, but these children having nothing more to fear from me. You however are at a far greater risk as you are now trespassing on my territory." Yami allowed some of his fear spells to leak across; he tempered them appropriately this time. "Take them and leave, now."

The Order waved their wands and the Death Eaters were levitated. "We're going."

Yami prowled forwards and the Aurors backed up. "We'll be back." Their leader said.

Yami snarled and surged forward in shadow form. The humans ran for the gate, Yami moved just slow enough to allow them to reach the gates and get through them before Yami smashed against the inside of the anti-Shade spells on the walls. The humans staggered away and Yami retook human form. The humans all disappeared with the characteristic pops and Yami smirked and turned away. Humans really were too easy to scare. /Can we come out now?/ Yugi asked.

Yami prowled into the castle and looked around. /Probably not the best idea, the school is still full of darkings./

Yami could almost feel Yugi banging his head on the table. Yami brushed blonde locks out his eyes and sighed, /I can try and lure them out into the forest, but a lot of them will not come, there is a lot of magic here./

/Boy when you get cross you really pull out all the stops./ Yugi noted. /I will tell Harry to pass on that we should stay inside for the rest of today, but I think the teachers will risk coming out. Will that be okay./

Yami shifted, the other humans would be alright, he hadn't totally gotten himself under control, but he did have nothing against most of them. /Yes, I am going to take the darkings and hide in the forest for a while, I am not in the mood for dealing with humans at the moment. Tell Harry that if he looks for me I am going to break his arm again./ Yami shut the bond as tight closed as he dared. He needed to be on his own for a while. Sending out thick ropy strands of shadow magic Yami lured as many of the darkings into following him as he could and then made for the Forbidden Forest.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Harry took a deep breath. It had been two days since Yami's attack on the school and the teachers were finally letting them out of the common rooms and restarting lessons. Harry knew through Yugi that Yami was going to avoid everyone; apparently he still hadn't forgiven Harry for cursing him. Harry pushed open the portrait and stepped into the corridor. He had been volunteered to be the first person out. It was apparently because he had such as good relationship with Yami.

They hadn't told any of the students, other than Hermione and Ron that it had been Harry's fault that this had happened and that Yami was less than pleased with Harry. The corridor was still a little dark, Harry paused and blinked rapidly, the darkness was different, not like normal shadows. A hand touched Harry's knee and he looked down, Yugi was looking out into the corridor. In the dimness Yugi amethyst eyes seemed to give off a soft glow of their own. The shadows skittered away as Yugi stepped out of the common room and into the corridor. He turned and smiled and Harry.

Harry followed him out and the rest of the Gryffindor house followed him. Harry picked Yugi up. "It's not Yami is it, it doesn't feel right?" Harry waved a hand around to the chilling shadows around them.

Hermione and Ron edged closer. Yugi shook his head and pointed down the hallway. Harry exchanged a look with Hermione and they followed their classmates down to the Great Hall, like Yugi they were sick of being cooped up.

Harry watched out the window as several of the students were hustled out of the school by their parents. That was ten now, spread between the four houses. Dumbledore stood on the steps watching the small group of people round the bend in the path and vanish from sight.

Yami had made no more appearances in the last few days. Nonetheless parents were terrified; Dumbledore's assurances after the revelation that there was a Shade living in Hogwarts had comforted them for a time. Yami's outraged attack on the school had damaged that irreparably. Harry sighed; even Ron and Ginny had received a letter from their parents asking if they wanted to come home. Ron had been furious and had burnt it, Harry had been grateful. Hermione kept busy and Yugi kept them apprised of both Yami's whereabouts and what he learnt from his spies.

Harry turned his attention back to non-verbally turning water into wine. More and more Death Eaters were losing Yami's spies. Voldemort was getting more magic from the Veil and he was passing it onto his followers. At the rate it was going Yami's spy system would be useless by the end of the year. Yugi claimed that Yami was getting close to giving up on the Death Eaters and turning his attention to the Ministry.

The door to the classroom opened and everyone turned around. Dumbledore was standing in the doorway. "I apologise, but may I speak with Harry, Miss Granger and Mr Weasley?" Dumbledore asked Professor McGonagall.

"Of course, Headmaster." Their stern Transfiguration Professor replied, motioning them to leave.

Dumbledore led them some way do the corridor and waved them into an empty classroom. Yugi trotted in behind them and climbed onto a chair. Harry shifted uneasily. "What did you want to talk to us about Professor?" He asked.

"I would like to warn you, particularly you Yugi, that the Ministry is sending several Aurors to try and capture or at least remove Yami from the school. There have been a great number of complaints and as you have no doubt noticed, several withdrawals from the school. The Ministry has decided to take action."

"But it didn't work before, what makes them think that they will succeed this time." Hermione asked.

Dumbledore shook his head. "Apparently they think they have discovered something more effective. After the last couple of days I have no doubt that any further attack on Yami would have disastrous results."

Yugi nodded and frowned at the floor.

Harry eyed him, "We can warn him sir, but I think that would make things worse. A warning might get his back up and get him ready. Don't you think Yugi?" He asked the elf.

Yugi nodded and then looked up, his face took on a determined look and he tapped himself of the chest.

Harry blinked. "You're going to take them on?" He asked.

Dumbledore shook his head. "If you were hurt then Yami's revenge would be even more vicious."

Yugi shook his head and pointed at Harry. Harry found himself wishing that Yugi would just talk to Dumbledore. "I guess it's up to us then." Harry looked at Yugi and the elf blushed and nodded.

Dumbledore looked between the four of them. "Thank you, I will help where I can."

Harry nodded. "Yeah, err...sir are you any closer to finding another Horcrux?" Harry asked, lowering his voice just in case.

Dumbledore smiled, "I am on the track of what could be one. Be patient. Thank you for your help. I believe that the Aurors will arrive tomorrow morning; they seem to believe that Yami will be weaker during the day. I am assuming that the idea is nonsense." Yugi snickered and nodded.

The Headmaster left and Harry turned to Hermione and Ron. "This is going to end so badly." He noted.

Hermione looked at Yugi, "Can't Yami sense when people are coming into Hogwarts though, he'll turn up before they are even through the gate."

Yugi nodded, "I will talk to him and make sure he stays away long enough for us to handle it."

"Is he going to be alright with that?" Harry asked. He doubted it, Yami seemed to have decided no one was capable of doing anything right.

"He will be." Yugi replied, "Look, I can keep Yami calm, but it will be up to you to talk them out of trying to capture him."

Ron shook his head mutely, probably thinking the same as Harry, that this was going to end in disaster. Harry suddenly remembered what time it was. "Come on or we'll be late for Defence Against the Dark Arts." He was mainly thinking that if he was late again Snape was going to give him another detention.

Harry picked up Yugi and the four of them headed for Snape's classroom.

The next day dawned and Harry trooped down to breakfast with his friends. Yugi said that he had warned Yami and the Shade was now skulking around the castle in case things went bad.

Yugi sat up straight suddenly and pulled hurriedly on Harry's sleeve. Harry looked down. "They're here already! Guys come on." Harry grabbed Ron's arm and dragged him after them. Hermione scooped up Yugi. Half the Great Hall was watching them oddly.

Harry ran to the entrance hall, arriving just as Dumbledore and McGonagall stepped into the room.

They all stood and watched as ten Aurors stepped through the great doors. "Dumbledore, glad to see you. Now where is the Shade?" The Head Auror said.

Harry looked over at Yugi; the little elf was sitting in Hermione's arms quietly. Dumbledore stepped forwards. "Perhaps we could have this conversation somewhere a little more private." He stepped back and motioned for the Aurors to follow him. The teachers led the way and Harry, Hermione and Ron followed behind.

The 'somewhere private' was McGonagall's office. "Now Dumbledore where is the Shade, we are taking him with us this time, and then we are going to restrengthen the anti-Shade spells. You have placed all the students under your care in a great deal of danger and you are not going to get away with it." The Auror who appeared to be in charge said.

Dumbledore gave his usual polite smile. "Harry are you aware of Yami's current location?"

Harry jumped, not expecting to be addressed. "No sir." As he spoke several bright white sparks shot out from behind him and latched onto the Aurors. Harry tried not to look at them, they were elfin spells and he didn't want to draw attention to whatever it was that Yugi was trying to do.

"Is there any way that you could find him?" Dumbledore tried.

"Not unless he wants to be found sir." Harry replied. Whatever Yugi was doing Harry couldn't see it, the sparks had vanished into the Aurors skin.

"Well gentlemen, unless you wish to scour the entire school for Yami then I suggest you leave." Dumbledore said.

"The elf can find him." One of the Aurors said.

Harry stepped in front of Hermione, blocking the man's view of his elf. "If you touch Yugi, there won't be enough of you left for Yami to even see." Harry pulled out his wand.

The Aurors laughed at him. "Look Mr. Potter, this Shade is dangerous. You were here the last few days, from all reports he nearly killed people."

Harry bit his lip. Most people still didn't know that it was Harry's fault in the first place. "Look just forget it. Whatever magic you think you have to catch him, it won't work. He's too powerful and you will just make him angry. Have you forgotten what happens when Shades get angry?" Harry snapped, turning the man's comment back on him.

"Where is the Shade?" The Head Auror asked again, obviously trying not to get angry.

"I don't know, but if you don't leave I'm going to call him and set him on you. Let's see how tough you are when you are drowning in your own tears." Harry glared and hoped that his totally empty threat would do the trick.

"Then we will just have to bring him out of hiding." The Head Auror said and pulled out his wand.

Dumbledore had his wand pressed to the side of the man's head before he could even lift his own. "If you intend to harm my students in order to follow an order which was essentially a suicide mission then I am afraid I will have to stop you." Dumbledore's eyes were as cold as ice, McGonagall pulled out her wand as well. Harry's was already in his hand and Ron fumbled in his robes for his. Hermione had curled her arms protectively around Yugi. The elf's eyes were closed, using all his strength to hold Yami back from attacking and still keep up whatever spell he was using on the Aurors. Harry opened up his strength for Yugi to use if he needed it. After a moment he felt some of his strength trickle down to Yugi, though the elf was trying to do it as subtly as possible.

Harry stepped forwards. "I suggest you leave and never come back. Yugi and I can deal with Yami far more effectively than any of you Ministry thugs. You don't know the first thing about Shades and you never will because you refuse to accept that he is far more powerful than you are. So get lost, before Yugi loses control and Yami storms in here and rips you into tiny pieces."

The Aurors looked stunned. Harry glared at them and clenched his fingers around his wand, focusing on not drawing the earth magic up. The Aurors looked at each other, then over at Dumbledore. "This is not up for negotiation. We need to at least speak with the Shade to determine if he remains a danger to the students and the general population."

Everyone looked at Yugi. The elf opened one eye and shook his head. Harry turned back. "I don't think that is a good idea."

"There will be no negotiations Mr. Potter, we either determine that he is not a threat or we capture him and take him with us." The Head Auror looked Harry in the eye and winced. Harry nodded; the man was taking as much liberty as he could. "Yugi tell Yami we need to talk to him."

Yugi shook his head and looked directly at Harry, his eyes pleading. Harry looked back; he had no idea what Yugi was trying to tell him. "Yugi now please, it's important."

Yugi looked at the others in the room and his face went red. Then he reached out his hands to Harry. Harry stepped closer to take the tiny elf from Hermione. "What's wrong?" Harry asked.

Yugi wriggled around and leant close so he could whisper to Harry. "He is mad at you. If he comes in I cannot promise he will not hurt you. Besides I do not think that man is tell the truth. He is going to try and capture Yami no matter what. My spell has broken the trap they have set, but that does not mean they will not try something anyway."

Harry leant back and looked down at Yugi. "We'll have to risk it." He murmured back so as not to warn the Aurors. Yugi looked worried but his eyes flickered and the usual coolness which accompanied Yami everywhere began to seep into the room. Shadows swirled into the room and concentrated in the centre so that they were between the Aurors and everyone else. Red eyes appeared in the dark depths. Harry frowned, Yami appeared to be looking directly at Harry, but when he spoke he was addressing the Aurors. "You will leave now."

"I am required by the Ministry to ensure that you are no danger to the students of this school. You have already proved that you are willing to harm students of this school and as such I have been asked to remove you." Harry had to admit that the Auror was doing well considering he had obviously just realised that whatever spell that had activated to trap Yami was gone. The man was now absolutely terrified.

Yami's shadows shifted slightly, "You are a fool." Harry bit back a smile. That was typical Yami. Yugi was tense, apparently he was still worried about Yami turning around and attacking Harry instead. Yami however seemed rather intent on ignoring Harry altogether.

"You will leave now. If the children are unhappy here then they are free to leave, but I will remain here until Yugi leaves." Yami replied.

The Aurors all drew their wands and the Head spoke again. "Then we will take the elf and you will follow. If you attack us then we will hurt him." It was impressive that the man managed to get the entire sentence out. Harry stepped aside and pulled Hermione out of the way of the door. Ron jumped in the opposite direction with a grin on his face, he could see what was coming as well as Harry could.

Yami had lunged for the Aurors and they were lost in shadows. He then turned and made for the door. Everyone ran following him out. Yami was fast, but carrying ten fully grown humans slowed him up enough for them to keep up. They also nearly tripled his size and prevented him from passing around objects and people as easily. Several students were thrown sideways as the Shade passed through the hallway. Harry thought that this was an appropriate punishment for the Ministry Officials. Being carried within Yami's shadows was a particularly unpleasant way to travel.

Yami carried the Aurors to Hogwarts gates and threw them across the boundary. He then took human form just within the gates. "If any Ministry person ever sets foot on Hogwarts ground again then they are dead. I do not care what you are here for, not even Yugi will be able to stop me next time. I have had enough. You cannot capture me and you cannot defeat me. Forget trying and go do something useful with your lives." Yami snapped, then he turned and without making eye contact with any of the humans he took shadow form again and vanished into the nearby tree line.

Harry looked down at Yugi. "Well that went as well as can be expected." Yugi gave him a disbelieving look and they all watched the Aurors apparate away.

"Well, Yugi thank you. I am going to assume we won't be seeing much of Yami now." Dumbledore stowed his wand in a pocket.

Yugi nodded seriously and turned his head to where Yami had disappeared. Harry just hoped that Yami would still help them. Harry sighed; he had alienated one of the few people who could possibly have helped him to defeat Voldemort.

* * *

_I've changed a lot since I wrote this chapter first and I think it is better now. Things were a bit waffly for a while._


	29. Agreements

_I had a suggestion, and it makes sense, I really should get myself a beta._

_Ah well. Yankee Sampson, thanks for the recommendation, you're right, the first bit was unnecessary. So this chapter's for you._

_Turns out this story is actually going to be shorter than Light in the Shadows, in terms of Chapters that is, in terms of words it's a bit longer. I've just finished planning the second to last chapter, now I just have to write it. Updates still once a week though, I don't want to overload you, especially since these chapters are kind of long._

Chapter 29: Agreements

It was nearly two weeks after Gryffindor had won the Quidditch cup when the first year handed Harry the piece of parchment. Harry looked down at it with a momentary flash of irritation. He was late to class, but he suspected that this was a letter from Dumbledore. Yugi tugged on Harry's robe and he picked him up. Handing the parchment to Yugi, Harry took off at a quick walk. "Can you read that to me please?" He asked the elf. Yugi picked open the seal and examined the letter for a moment. "Harry, please come to my office tonight at seven O'clock, bring your Invisibility Cloak." The elf read and glanced up at Harry his hair falling forward into his eyes as they moved.

Yugi looked up. "Do you think he has found the next…" Yugi stopped talking and went pink. Harry had rounded a corner and stopped at the Charm's classroom where everyone was waiting. Several people turned around and looked at them, but turned away when they saw it was just Harry. Harry smiled faintly; no one would have even noticed the different voice speaking.

Harry pushed his way through the crowd and found Ron and Hermione. "Hey guy's I have something I need to talk to you about." He muttered to them.

Hermione nodded when she saw the note and the serious look on Harry's face. "In class." She said. Flitwick opened the door and people began to funnel into the classroom and find their seats.

Once everyone was settled and the usual chaos which was Charms began Harry cast the _Muffalto _spell and turned to Hermione and Ron. Yugi handed the parchment back to Harry and Harry passed it to his friends. "So what do you think?" He asked.

Hermione passed the note back and they all waved their wands and spoke the spell they were supposed to be practicing as Flitwick walked past. "You think he has found the Horcrux?"

Harry nodded. "Yugi thinks so too, don't you?"

Yugi nodded and glanced around. As usual he was reluctant to speak when there were people around, and he always seemed to need to make sure the spell was working properly. "Yes, I think he has found it. Why else would he ask you to come to his office with your Cloak? I just think though, that someone should go with you."

They all looked at him. "What do you mean, I'll be with Dumbledore. It's you I'm worried about. I'd bet anything that whatever Malfoy is doing will come together when Dumbledore is gone." Harry told him.

Hermione shook her head. "Harry I don't know, we still don't even know what it is Malfoy is doing."

Ron scoffed, "Maybe not, but Harry's right whatever he's doing it isn't good. Not that it matters I can't see Yami letting him get away with anything."

Harry nodded, "well no matter what happens I want you two to keep Yugi safe."

"Hey!" Yugi perked up indignantly, "I am coming with you."

Harry shook his head. "No way, I'm in enough trouble with Yami without taking you into possible danger where he probably won't be able to go."

Yugi shook his head stubbornly, "I am not letting you go with just Dumbledore to protect you, what if you get hurt?"

Harry shook his head. "You can't come, no way, and we can't take Yami because we'll probably be apparating."

Yugi pouted and disappeared back under the desk. Harry sighed, but the hint of emotions he got through the bond to Yugi told him that the elf wasn't sulking.

Harry turned his attention back to Hermione and Ron. "Please can you guys keep an eye on things while I'm gone?" He glanced down under the desk. "And can you warn Yami that we will be away and things might start happening." The last was directed at Yugi and he received an indecisive hum in reply.

Ron nodded, but Hermione looked reluctant. The two of them spent the rest of the lesson convincing her to help. Harry knew that things would go better if Hermione was there; she really was the most magically skilled of the three of them.

After Charms Hermione headed to her Ancient Runes class and Harry, Ron and Yugi returned to the common room. Harry sighed as he settled into a chair and pulled out his latest potions essay.

Harry found his mind wandering absently over the last few weeks and tonight's trip with Dumbledore. He didn't know what it expect, but he was excited to finally be doing something about defeating Voldemort.

A whispered musical note disrupted his thoughts and brought him back to the present. Harry looked over at Yugi; the tiny elf was seated in front of the fire muttering to himself. Harry suspected he was talking to Yami, though the Shade was nowhere to be seen.

Yami had made no appearances at all in the time since his attack on Hogwarts. People were finally starting to recover from it and no more students had been withdrawn. Harry turned a page in his book and gave Yugi a second glance.

His ward hadn't grown at all in the last two years. Elves were children for a human lifetime that was what everything he had found out told him, but Harry wondered if they spent that whole time as children and never became teenagers. He wondered, as he had many times in the last year, exactly how old Yugi was. Whenever he had asked, Yugi had gotten teary about his lost family and Harry had hastily changed the subject.

Harry looked back down at his essay. It was boring and he was excited about tonight, and if he admitted it, a little nervous. By the time their next lesson came around Harry hadn't progressed through his essay at all, but had mused considerably over which Horcrux Dumbledore had found and hoping that whatever Malfoy was planning wouldn't come off tonight.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Yami slunk into the common room through the window. Yugi was seated alone by the fire; he had decided to stay in the common room while Harry went to his lesson. Yami wasn't entirely sure why Yugi had asked him to come here. Yami had been avoiding all the humans as much as possible. Shades were very good at holding grudges and Yami had good reasons for holding this one. He was going to avoid Harry at all costs because he doubted he would be able to contain himself if he saw the stupid human. Yami focused on Yugi; drew his shadows into human form and put all thoughts of Harry out of his mind.

This lasted about half a second after he took a seat across from his elf. "I want you to go with Harry tonight." Yugi said in lyrical elfish, the language he preferred to speak when they were alone. Yami paused a moment to consider if Yugi had gone nuts and then phrase everything in Yugi's native tongue. "What?" Not particularly eloquent, but Yugi had surprised him.

"He and Dumbledore are going to get one of the Horcruxes and I would like you to go with them and keep them safe." Yugi said calmly, looking at him though those irresistible eyes.

Yami stared fixedly at the wall near Yugi's head, maybe if he avoided Yugi's gaze he wouldn't give in. "I am not going near him." Yami said firmly.

"Please Yami. He is going to be in danger. I do not care if Dumbledore is going along, I feel like something terrible is going to happen tonight." Yugi pleaded.

Yami looked down into his lap, still trying to avoid Yugi's gaze. Yugi had shown some slight future sight before, but he could just as easily be working off instinct. "I am not leaving you here unprotected. Even he is better protection than nothing."

Yugi shifted, "Someone has to stay here to protect everyone else."

"Then I will stay here and you can go with Harry." Yami said. Then stopped, no that didn't help Yugi would still be in danger. "I mean..."

Yugi giggled, "I will be safer in the school, set all the protections you like. Barricade the school up with every spell you know, please Yami." Yugi reached out and touched Yami's knee. Yami shifted. "If they are apparating then I cannot go, it will exhaust whoever carries me and I am not transporting myself it is too tiring." Yami said. Why was Harry going into possible danger anyway? Yami really wished he knew more about where they were going. Yami needed to keep Harry alive because Harry was Yugi's only lifeline to life. The tiny elf wouldn't survive a second abandonment.

"I can put more spells on Harry so that he can apparate with you without hurting himself, please Yami, he is definitely going and I do not want him to go alone, I will be fine." Yugi said gently. Yami grumbled to himself. He had never been able to refuse Yugi anything; he just hadn't worked out how yet. Bakura was always telling Ryou what he could or couldn't do and the elf would agree, mostly. Yami had little to no control over Yugi. Yami leant back against the wall. "When are they leaving?" He asked reluctantly.

Yugi glanced up at the clock on the wall. "Seven O'clock." He said.

Yami sat bolt upright. That didn't give him very long at all. He narrowed his eyes at Yugi. "You did that on purpose." He grumbled, Yami now had hardly any time to set his protections down.

Yugi shook his head, "This was the first chance I had to talk to you; Dumbledore only sent Harry the message an hour ago."

Yami grumbled a little more, "Are you going to come with me or find Harry?" He asked.

Yugi scrunched up his face, "You are going to be doing Shadey things aren't you." Yami nodded. "I will find Harry. He is meeting Dumbledore at his office at seven, please be there."

/I have said I will be haven't I?/ Yami thought to him as he considered the security he needed to add.

/Not in so many words, please keep him safe./ Yugi stepped out of the portrait and vanished down the hall. Yami departed via the window, made his way to the boundary and began to re-add his enhanced boundary spells so no one would be able to get into the school until he returned.

The spell had worked perfectly last time; Yugi had been required to call in three elves to take the spells apart and they had needed to use earth magic to do it. The spells would stop people from crossing the boundary in any of the conventional methods. However it wouldn't stop people who were already inside, Yami was certain that there were no Death Eaters within the school, but there were students and they could be just as dangerous.

Yami called up the darkings. The minuscule shadows took his instructions with delight, they loved going into the school. Yami sent them to patrol the hallways and asked them to obey Yugi. After a bit of wheedling Yami managed to convince Yugi to command the darkings to eat any attacking magic which was cast if it was needed. Eight darkings set themselves to following Yugi and being his connection to the others around the castle. Yami prowled into the kitchen, the spells and organising the darkings had taken nearly four hours, he was running out of time. The kitchen was full of House Elves.

Yami eased himself into human form and waited until the excitable creatures had calmed down. "I would like to ask your assistance. I am leaving Hogwarts for a short period of time, would you all please watch and protect Yugi until I return?" There was an uproar of tiny piping voices yelling that they wouldn't let anything happen to Yugi. Yami shrugged his thanks, normally he wouldn't have asked, but Yugi's apparent premonition made him a little nervous.

The House Elves wouldn't let anything happen and they knew their way around the castle very well. Yami shifted and stretched out his senses to the boundaries. Several members of the Order of the Phoenix had crossed over the boundary a little before he had finished setting the spells. Though Yami normally disregarded humans in his plans for protection in this case he knew that these humans were trained to fight Death Eaters, they would have their place. So long as they didn't interfere with anything he had set up.

It was nearly seven O'clock so Yami made his way up to Dumbledore's office. The phoenix was absent and Harry stood in the centre of the room wearing what he called his muggle clothes. His wand was stuffed through a loop on his belt and he had the Invisibility Cloak bundled in his arms. Harry turned as Yami entered the room and his eyes went wide. "Yami?"

Yami drew into human form; he could sense the extra spells Yugi had added to prevent Harry from being harmed by carrying a Shade. "Yugi has decided that you need more protection during this jaunt than he does. I am coming with you." Yami said.

Dumbledore nodded, "At the beginning of the year you said that we couldn't carry you while apparating, has this changed?"

Yami narrowed his eyes, "Yugi's spells will protect Harry and he will carry me."

Dumbledore shook his head. "Harry cannot apparate." He noted.

"Then he had better learn very quickly." Yami snapped, watching Harry flinch violently.

Dumbledore tilted his head in a slight nod. "Very well, Harry please put on your cloak, Yami if you would remain as invisible as you can. I would like it to appear that I am leaving unaccompanied."

Yami dissolved into his shadows and followed the two humans out. Dumbledore was greeted by all the teachers he passed.

Yami followed closely at Harry's side, darkings already patrolled the halls forming small bundles of frisky shadow which moved in an entirely foreign way to everything around them. Harry was so focused on following Dumbledore that he didn't seem to notice the flitting shadows around him. Yami slid out into the open air and followed the two humans down to the village. As he did he reached out a final time for Yugi.

The elf was with Hermione and Ron. Ginny, Neville and Luna were on alert and the House Elves were armed and ready. Despite this Yami was reluctant to leave. Harry needed to be kept safe because Yugi's life depended on it, but Yugi could still be hurt. The promise Yami had made to her resurfaced. He needed to protect Yugi, but this time the only way he could do that was to leave Yugi undefended. Yami turned his attention back to Harry. This had better not take too long.


	30. The Horcrux

_I realised as I was updating this that I've been writing fan fiction for over a year now. _

_Wow, one year and I've finished two stories, one One Shot and nearly finished a third with a fourth underway and a fifth upcoming. _

_It actually makes me feel like I've accomplished something._

Chapter 30: The Horcrux

Yami followed the two humans down to the village. There was little movement, what there was concentrated around the brightly lit tavern. A woman stepped out and greeted Dumbledore. The old wizard replied politely, but Yami was focused on the woman.

There were traces of human magic on her. It was a spell that should have been familiar to him, but he couldn't quite place it. Yami tried to follow the lines of magic, but his concentration was interrupted when the female went inside and Dumbledore and Harry moved off along the street. Yami hissed softly in annoyance and followed them further, "Where are we going human?" Yami swirled around Dumbledore and forged himself a pair of eyes, well hidden in shadow.

Dumbledore kept his gaze firmly forwards. "Just out of sight, then we can apparate." Dumbledore spoke softly to prevent his voice from carrying. Yami turned back and wandered over to Harry.

From under the Cloak's folds Harry gave him an uneasy smile. Yami didn't respond. It hadn't been long enough for Yami to forgive the young human for his foolish move and now they were heading away from Yugi into possible danger, leaving Yugi in danger. This was foolish and Yami was severely tempted to force the two of them back to the school.

Yugi chimed in the back of his head. Yami grumbled and swirled around Harry before stopping and settling into human form when Dumbledore stopped down a dark alley. Darkings flitted around him. Yami was loathed to leave them behind, darkings could get to places he couldn't and they were additional eyes to watch and protect Harry. However, they didn't stand apparating well and he would rather leave them here to watch Yugi.

He sighed and tucked only his own darking into his shadows and sent the rest back to the school. They went unwillingly.

Yami turned to the humans. Harry was watching him with a look of confusion on his face. Privately Yami was pleased that he could now recognise the emotion, outwardly Yami glared at him. Harry looked away. "Now, I am unsure of how you are intending to travel?" Dumbledore said politely.

Yami grumbled, "First you will tell me where we are going and what we are doing."

Dumbledore studied him for a moment before inclining his head. "I will tell you what we are doing when we arrive, there are too many ears here, but we are going far away and I doubt that there will be any humans around."

Yami studied him, but didn't push him. He knew too well that there could be spies everywhere. "You may guide Harry as to where we are going, but he must be the one to activate the transporting magic. If you attempt to carry me then you will suffer severe exhaustion and possibly die."

Harry gulped, "Are you sure it won't hurt me?" He asked.

Yami narrowed his eyes. "Yugi has increased the protection spells on you." Yami swirled back into his shadows and coiled carefully around Harry on the outside of the invisibility cloak. Dumbledore took a moment and then offered his arm to Harry.

Yami braced himself as the three of them slid into the crushing darkness and away from Hogwarts.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Harry's knees buckled as he hit the ground. Dumbledore dropped his arm and Yami slid away from the two of them, reforming his human body as he did. Harry straightened and looked around; they were standing on a cliff overlooking dark stormy looking water. In the distance he could see some lights blinking; houses he supposed a village off in the distance, nothing close by.

Yami stepped close to the cliff edge and Harry repressed an automatic response to grab him and pull him away in case he fell. The Shade studied everything carefully while Dumbledore lit his wand tip so that the two humans who couldn't see in the dark would be able to examine everything in more detail.

Dumbledore smiled as he noted where they were. "Excellent, well down we go." He then stepped lightly down a weaving pathway, Harry followed closely at the Professor's heels. Yami swirled around them both, capable of manoeuvring the pathway more rapidly in his insubstantial form. It took them less than five minutes to reach the bottom of the cliff. Harry could see nowhere to go; all around them was ocean, cold black water spreading off into the distant horizon.

Dumbledore leant over the last ledge into the water. "We must swim the rest of the way." He said calmly and stepped into the water, sinking to his knees.

Yami was staring at the water. Dumbledore turned; he was already waist deep in the inky black liquid, his silver beard spreading across the water. Harry tucked the Invisibility Cloak into the inside pocket of his jacket. He then watched as Yami shuddered, the Shade settled cross-legged on a nearby rock. "I do not swim." He said. Yami's eyes were doing that glowing thing again, seeming to shine while being the very centre of the darkness. Harry stepped into the water and shivered, it was as cold as it looked. Within moments his lower legs were numb. "So you are going to wait here?" He asked politely.

Yami glared at Harry. He knew that Harry knew that Shade's hated getting wet. "Yes, I cannot swim even if I wanted to."

Dumbledore frowned. "I have seen you fly as a shadow, can you not fly over the water. I have to admit that having you along reduces the danger considerably."

Yami looked out over the waves with distaste. "Moving across water is not pleasant or easy." Yami noted and glared at the cold black water. He muttered something to himself and his body dissolved slowly into shadows. In the darkness, lit only by Dumbledore's wand even Harry had trouble spotting the slightly darker blotch of shadows.

Harry moved deeper into the freezing water and began to swim after his Headmaster. Harry had no idea Dumbledore knew which direction to go, but he followed along in his wake non-the-less. Harry's fingers and toes were numb and his clothes were starting drag him down under the water. He paddled harder trying to keep his head above the water, his breath coming in a harsh gasps. Then Dumbledore was rising from the water and offering a hand to Harry.

Harry's fingers closed around Dumbledore's wrist and he was pulled bodily from the water. His legs were so numb that they gave in as he set foot on the ground again. Dumbledore pulled out his wand and muttered a spell. They were immediately surrounded by a cloud of steam and Harry found himself dry, though not particularly warm. Yami swelled into existence next to them. Dumbledore was now examining the stone wall behind the ledge they were sitting on. Harry shivered again and stumbled to his feet. Yami was watching Dumbledore with a look of irritation.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Yami stepped lightly onto the stone lip where the two soaked humans stood. Dumbledore was examining the stone wall behind them. Yami glanced at the now dry Harry and shook water out of his twitching shadows. Coming across the water had not been pleasant, the shifting surface below him made it difficult to move in a straight line and if it hadn't been for the visual reference of the two swimmers Yami knew he would have been lost in the middle of the ocean.

His darking twitched around him, drawn immediately to the human concealing spell on the wall that Dumbledore was examining. Dumbledore stepped back with a look of disgust and with a swift movement nicked his good arm allowing a well of fresh red blood to swell up. He wiped his arm on the stone and with a flare of human magic an archway was revealed.

Yami followed the humans through silently, sending his darking around to check the area ahead. He knew that his purpose here tonight was as a hind guard. He was there to watch for attacks from around them, leaving Dumbledore and Harry the task of locating the Horcrux.

Yami peered through the darkness, Harry was walking right on Dumbledore's heels and Yami flowed, half human behind them. The darking reported lots of human magic, but that was to be expected and was not very concerning for Yami. So long as he kept an eye out and was ready he would be able to combat any of the human spells that were thrown their way.

The three of them passed along a thin winding pathway for a while before stepping out into a huge water filled cavern. Yami shivered, he really didn't want to cross more water.

Even with Yami's ability to see in the dark he wasn't able to see what lay out across the lake, it was too far. But under the water Yami could sense something else. Something cold, filled with human magic and all too familiar. Inferi, Yami shifted closer to Harry, the young human was a in a great deal of danger here. All of Yami's instincts were telling him to get out of there. Yami didn't say anything though; instead he reached out as far as he could; seeking for a taste of the tainting they were searching for. He found nothing.

The bodies in the water were inanimate, but though a few filters Yami could see the line of the waking spell. "Now there must be a way, ah of course." Dumbledore said. Yami half turned his attention to his two human companions. Dumbledore was fumbling through the air, apparently trying to take hold of the invisible chain which Yami could locate through his vision filters. Harry was looking with interest into the water. Yami kept his eye on Harry, the last thing he needed was for the human to fall into Inferi infested water.

Once Dumbledore had located the chain he gave it a swift tug and a small wooden boat floated to the surface of the lake and settled, bobbing peacefully across the water's surface until it came to rest where the three of them could get in. Yami gave a near silent sigh of relief. Crossing water in a boat was fine; he just wanted something between him and the water.

Dumbledore and Harry settled into the tiny boat, there was only just room for the two of them. Well Yami thought, a little vindictively, this was going to make them a little uncomfortable.

Yami slid fully back into his shadows and wrapped himself firmly around the two humans, though he made sure his emotive spells were restricted, the icy cold of his shadows would make the ride a little unpleasant for them both.

The boat moved across the dark water of its own accord. Yami watched the spell pulling them across for a moment before he turned away and watched the area around them. "Yami, is there anything we should be aware of?" Dumbledore asked.

Yami formed himself a pair of eyes. "There are Inferi in the water; they are inert for the moment. However there is a spell to waken them, I cannot determine how it is activated." Yami replied. Harry had been leaning over the black water and now jerked backwards.

"How's Yugi?" Harry asked. At Yami's glare he added. "Sorry, if you can't reach him, I get it..."

Yami sighed, rolled his eyes and then relinquished them. He reached along the bond. They were a very long way away from Hogwarts, well outside of his and Yugi's ability to contact each other. The bond was stretched so taut that Yami could do no more than brush it to determine that Yugi was still happy and relaxed. To put too much of his power into the bond would risk it shattering and Yami had no idea if he could stand that let alone what it would do to his elf. "He is fine." Yami replied, he didn't elaborate, mainly because he couldn't tell anything more.

After a few more moments of silence an island of black rock rose into existence out of the water. The boat slid silently up to the island and bumped gently into it. Harry stepped out onto the slick black stone and Yami followed him, taking human form carefully, still checking the area around them. His darking flitted over to a glowing green basin at the top of the island. Dumbledore led the way up to the basin.

The three of them stood around it. Yami leant over and reached out a hand to touch the glowing green liquid. His fingers were stopped a hair's breadth from the surface. It was human magic, but dark, very dark. Yami pulled his hand back.

Dumbledore waved his wand over the bowl, nothing happened. The old wizard settled back on his heels to think. Harry leant over the bowl. "So the Horcrux is at the bottom?"

"I suspect so Harry, but how do we get to it?" Dumbledore mused. "I take it that you are not able to reach through the spell either?" The wizard asked Yami.

Yami shrugged. "Perhaps I could, but the effects would be dramatic and dangerous. The magic is dark and would require a lot of strength to break."

Dumbledore nodded. "Then we will use that as a last resort."

Yami looked out onto the water; all the webs of magic led to this island and it made him more than a little nervous.

"I can see only one way for this to work Harry, the potion must be drunk." Dumbledore demonstrated by summoning a golden goblet and dipping it into the eerie liquid. The cup passed where Yami's hand had been unable to cross and Dumbledore withdrew it, now full to the brim with glowing green potion. As the goblet had left the potions surface to Yami's eyes it had glowed brighter for a moment, as though sensing the removal of some of itself.

"Professor, maybe I should drink it." Harry said, reaching out one hand to take the goblet from his Professor.

Yami watched patiently, he knew that Dumbledore wouldn't allow Harry to drink it. And if he did then Yami was going to throw him into the lake with the Inferi.

Dumbledore drew the goblet out of Harry's reach, "No Harry, you are far more important than I am, but you must promise me that you will make me finish this potion."

Harry shook his head. Yami rolled his eyes. "I will ensure it Dumbledore, now drink, this place has too many dangers."

Dumbledore lifted the goblet in a toast, and then drained the goblet. He paused as he finished the first cup. Yami could sense his aura change, darken and become more tainted, the curse in his hand flexed as though the application of the poison was strengthening it. Dumbledore plunged the goblet into the basin three more times, before it fell from his nerveless fingers. Harry shuddered, but picked up the goblet.

Dumbledore had crumpled to the ground and was whimpering and mumbling. Yami pulled away, clamping down harder on his emotive spells, though the terror and hatred and horror that leaked from the distraught human was so sweet.

Harry looked at Yami. "He needs to drink it all Harry, it is the only way." Yami told the young human. The curse which invaded Dumbledore's hand hadn't worsened since he had started drinking, but Yami was aware that it was already a drain on his strength, Yugi had determined that much.

It was possible that drinking this potion would kill him. Yami forced his attention out into the lake, he was here to protect Harry, not to get distracted by the fear of an old man.

Harry held the full goblet to Dumbledore's lips, encouraging the Professor to drink. Yami let him go.

This seemed too easy. They were surrounded by Inferi, but the corpses didn't attack, they waited. Yami shifted and his darking raced around the island, if Yami had enough darkings with him he could have destroyed the spells which surrounded the island, but one darking wasn't enough. He couldn't risk breaking the spells himself, there were bound to be further spells to prevent that.

It would be last thing he needed if the cavern exploded because Yami tried to undo the spells which protected it.

Dumbledore was now screaming in agony, protesting Harry's continual pouring of the potion down his throat though he still seemed to accept the drink when it was offered. Yami dug his fingernails into his shadows, sending pseudo-pain through his arms. The emotions coming off the Headmaster were delicious, but they would need the old man's help to get out of here. Yami had no idea which way to go once they were out of the cavern, travelling over water messed with his internal compass.

Dumbledore gave a final scream which sent a pleasant shiver through Yami's shadows and then everything went quiet. Yami turned around, the old wizard was slumped on the cold stone and Harry was crouched over him, the goblet lay discarded halfway down to the water.

"Professor, Professor?" Harry dragged out his wand and pointed it at the old man's face, trying to revive him. Yami moved closer and grabbed Harry's wand hand. He could feel the earth magic begin to stir in response to Harry's distress. "Wait Harry." Yami said. He could sense the life blood beating slowly in Dumbledore; the human just needed a moment to recover.

Harry relaxed slightly, still clutching his wand though letting the earth magic settle.

While Harry waited and watched Yami reached around with his mind to search for the tainting, but there was nothing there. Yami couldn't look around and hold Harry still at the same time, so he sent his darking to check in the basin. The little shadow reported that the basin was empty. It was then that Yami caught sight of something golden hanging from Harry's hand, but there was no hint of a tainting.

Before Yami could comment Dumbledore stirred. "Water." The old man mumbled.

Harry gave a great sigh of relief and pulled his hand free of Yami's grasp. He hurried over, grabbed the discarded goblet, and tried to magically fill it with water. Yami felt the magic in the cavern twitch and the water disappeared. "Water." The old human croaked again.

"I'm trying Professor." Harry cried. Then he glanced down at the lake surrounding them.

Yami lunged across the distance, catching him just as Harry was about to plunge the cup into the water. "No Harry, you will wake the Inferi. Let me." There was probably more than one way to wake the corpses, but Yami would bet his life that touching the water would be the most certain of them.

Yami looked down and wove a cup out of the shadows he normally used for his hands. Hopefully the spells wouldn't be able to detect his Shade magic. Yami carefully dipped the fashioned scoop into the water, it created only the slightest ripple and Yami poured the water into Harry's waiting beaker. The young human hurried over to Dumbledore and helped him to drink. Yami watched the lake. There were stirrings. This wasn't good.

Inferi were famously difficult to magic. They were dead bodies so the only way to 'kill' them was to destroy their bodies or undo the spells which animated them. The first option was draining and the second option was time consuming. Neither commodity could be wasted tonight. The ripples increased in size, it was happening slowly as though the bodies beneath the water were unsure as to whether they should wake or not. "Harry we must leave." He told the young human.

Dumbledore was still not breathing easily. "Yami we need more water first, I can't carry him." Harry told him, though the boy's green eyes were watching the increasingly restless water. Yami dipped his shadows into the water once again and filled the goblet. That was the last straw. The Inferi began to move.

Harry was tilting the cup to allow the old wizard to drink so Yami turned his full attention to the Inferi. He would have to rip them to pieces it was his only option. Their cold nothingness provided nothing for him so Yami dipped into his reserves, dissolved his human form and attacked.

The only way he could fight Inferi was brute force and that required more strength than the emotive spells he would use to fight humans. "Harry!" he yelled, the humans needed to get onto the boat and out of there. He could protect the boat; it was harder fighting over water. Particularly water that was moving so much because of the thrashing bodies that came from underneath it, but he could do it.

The Inferi fought back, drawn now by the scent of human flesh. Yami rammed them back into the water with all his strength, throwing decomposing bodies every which way. Harry was fighting back as well, drawing strength for his spells from the earth magic. Yami dodged those with a great deal of care. The sense of those powered up spells made him want to attack Harry, self preservation stopped him.

Yami twisted and tossed several Inferi who had snuck up behind Harry back into the water. In order to keep fighting Yami had to remain entirely in shadow form. If he took human form then he would drop like a stone, that meant that he had to expend more strength to physically affect the Inferi while only existing in his shadows.

There were too many Inferi and Yami was starting to feel the strain of fighting them. Yami backed up bit, returning to hover over dry land rather than the choppy waters. As soon as Yami had cleared the water line, fire lashed out from behind him. Dumbledore stood now, wand in hand, fire spouting from the tip of the wooden stick.

Yami ducked under one of the blasts of flames. The Inferi backed off from the heat and light, wailing. Harry quickly guided his Professor to the boat and Yami joined them, still ready for a fight. As soon as the two humans were seated the boat took off for the mainland; Yami shoved a few of the more resistant bodies back into the water when they scrabbled their rotting fingers against the wooden hull of their little boat. Dumbledore kept the flames going, circling them like a watchful phoenix. Yami hissed at the thought.

The boat bumped against the rocks and the two humans climbed out. As soon as their feet hit the damp ground the Inferi settled back into their slumber. Yami watched the stilling waters as Harry and Dumbledore stumbled along the narrow pathway to the entrance.

The two humans slipped into the icy water again, Yami followed over head. Harry was practically dragging Dumbledore. A coldness sifted through Yami's centre. He twisted in the direction that Yugi was, where Hogwarts was. Something was wrong.

* * *

_Oh no what could it possibly be? It's funny; this would be a cliff hanger if everyone didn't know what was already going down at Hogwarts._


	31. Agony

Chapter 31: Agony

Yami landed on his human feet. Dumbledore had recovered slightly from his after dinner drink and was now able to stand, but Harry had been worried that he would fall when they arrived. After all apparition was a rather shocking experience at the best of times. So the old Professor was hanging between the two of them.

Yami found apparating in human form even more unpleasant than in shadow form, but he hadn't been willing to argue. Whatever was occurring at Hogwarts he needed to get back quickly. Yami turned his head as Dumbledore took his weight on his own feet. The old wizard was still very weak, but Yami didn't have time stop. The Shade removed Dumbledore's arm from his shoulders and stepped away. The sense of wrongness had increased and it was setting Yami on edge.

Now was the time to tell Harry what he had sensed. "There is something wrong." Yami said turning to look at the outline of the distant castle in the night. High above them a shimmering black-smoke spell shone over the Astronomy tower.

"The Dark Mark." Harry gasped as his eyes settled on the spell. "Yami there are Death Eaters in Hogwarts." Harry added twisting to look at Yami.

Dumbledore groaned softly and looked up. "We must get to the castle." He told the two of them.

Yami ignored the old wizard's obvious statement. "You take care of him, I can move faster without you and carrying him would finish him off. I need to find Yugi." Yami told Harry.

The young human nodded, "Hurry." About time the human learnt to listen to Yami.

Yami turned and surged into shadow form. As he did he reached out for Yugi. The elf was unharmed, but tired. /Yugi are you alright?/ Yami allowed only the faintest hint of his desperation to echo along their bond.

/Fine, but there are lots of Death Eaters here, please hurry. Is Harry alright?/ Yugi replied.

/He is in the village with Dumbledore, is anyone hurt?/

/I do not know it is chaos in here; please hurry before someone is hurt or killed. The luck potion is wearing off./ Harry had handed the rest of his Luck potion to his friends before he left apparently it had been a good choice.

Yami reached out with his mind and magic as he moved. He had to undo the spells which protected the school. He hadn't had time to shield the entire area covered with the anti-Shade spells so this time the spells only protected the castle. Yami unwove the spells as he crossed them, shattering the last fragments with his physical presence as he passed. Now Harry and Dumbledore would be able to join them when they found a mode of transportation.

Yami entered the chaos in the Astronomy tower. There were creatures everywhere; humans fighting humans, humans fighting House Elves.

All this was irrelevant as the pain hit him. Yami reeled back screaming as his shadows were seared. Each of the Death Eaters was wearing a cloak soaked in Veil magic. Yami roared his fury and threw a blaze of earth magic at them, barely able to aim as his vision blurred to accompany his agony. Two Death Eaters dissolved on the spot.

The Veil magic burned at him. It was far worse than the defensive flaring of the earth magic around the school. The Veil magic ate at his very core. It clawed at his essence leaving his consciousness in danger of simply evaporating. Yami staggered backwards. He couldn't stay. He hurt so badly he was barely able to think.

Yami fled the battle back into the pleasant cool of outside, beyond the reach of that dark power. The darkings had been forced to abandon Yugi, also unable to stand such close quarters with magic which was both exactly the same and completely opposite to them. /Yami, you have to help. Please./ Yugi's mind was desperate and it nearly killed Yami.

/They have Veil magic, I cannot, Yugi it hurts./ Yami wailed back. He had never been this powerless and he hated it.

There was a loud scream from within the room. /Yami please./ Yugi begged.

Yami braced himself and gathered all the emotive spells he could, he was going to need them. Another scream came and Yami felt anger replace the helplessness from before. Voldemort dared to enter his territory and attack his humans. Filling his mind with thoughts of anger and rage, Yami whirled and returned to the room. He was instantly assailed by the Veil shadows. His magic melted off the Death Eaters like snow sending agonised spasms through his essence. It burnt, hurting Yami in a way that even Harry's earth magic powered spell had not.

Yami turned, not even bothering with human form. He searched quickly for another way to fight so he could leave the agony behind. It wasn't quite as bad as trying to stand next to the Veil itself, but it damn well wasn't far off.

A flash of sliver caught Yami's eye and he snatched a meat cleaver from the hands of a House Elf. The small ugly creatures were causing most of the damage to the Death Eaters, slashing at knees and ankles with kitchen knives. Yami turned and hurled the knife at a large blonde human who was marked heavily with the runes of Veil magic. The man staggered and then vanished in a surge of magic which made Yami whimper.

Human magic flared above his head. Earth magic rippled and smashed through his concentration. Yami pulled some of it up. Luna and Neville were shielding people and elves as they fought, but Yami could see that they were both nearing exhaustion. The castle was groaning deeply in response to the use of the elemental power at its core. Yami shivered to think of the damage that would come if the magical barriers broke down.

Above and below all the other magic in the battle Yami could sense Yugi. Both earth and elfin wove through the room, though the elf was nowhere to be seen.

Yami needed this battle to finish. He looked around as another knife was pressed into his shadows by a House Elf. In the darkness Yami could see that there were two House Elves and one of the Weasleys, an older one, unconscious on the ground. Yami could still sense the throb of life within each of them.

The Death Eaters were fighting with all the skill they had, but they were hampered. The Veil magic prevented Yami from attacking them directly it also seemed that the dark power was eating away at the humans as they used it. Each of them was failing, slowly, their magic the only thing which prevented them from simply ceasing to be.

Yami grimaced, and threw another knife. It caught a second human in the shoulder; he screamed and began to fade. Yami was prevented from watching any further as his humans became aware of his presence in the battle. The Hogwarts students and Order members greeted him with cheers and renewed vigour while the Death Eaters turned their wands on him. Yami twitched his shadows out of the way of the magic. The efforts of tonight were starting to catch up with him making his movements sluggish and sore. Being this close to the Veil magic was eating him away as much as it was eating away at the Death Eaters, if not more.

Yami pulled up defensive shields and pulled on some of the earth magic to throw at his attackers. His strength dipped dramatically making his vision swirl. Yami dashed across the room, ramming Death Eaters physically out of the way as he moved. It hurt like nothing he had ever experienced before, but it was necessary. He could sense that Yugi was somewhere close, and he needed to find the elf. Yugi's bright light could sooth the burning agony in Yami's heart.

Yami threw himself sideways as the human death spell was hurled his way. The spell missed him by a hairs breadth. Yami twisted his form so that he landed on his half-formed feet and kept moving.

The human's spells were not tainted with the Veil magic. It seemed that they had only mastered it enough to use it as defensive spells. However with his essence assailed by Veil magic, being struck by a human spell could prove devastating. Magic crossed his path from ally and enemy alike. Yami dodged where he could, and let the less dangerous spells smash into his flickering defensive shield.

Finally Yami caught sight of Yugi, the elf was neatly hidden in a niche in the wall and he glowed with magic. Despite this Yami could both see and sense that he was exhausted.

Too much magic when he was separated from his parent and Yugi was nearly spent. Yami moaned, Yugi lifted his bright eyes. He had no light to spare to ease the Shade's pain, but Yami could feel Yugi's desire to help him. Yami backed off two steps and closed Yugi off. He would not let Yugi waste his precious strength on him. Tears filled the elf's eyes.

There were voices from above them. Yami slightly befuddled mind caught the voices, Dumbledore and the marked human, Malfoy. What where they doing and where was Harry?

The battle was starting to fade off, the Death Eaters had realised that their cloaks were beginning to drain on them more than they could take so they were vanishing them. Yami waited, coiled in the darkness near his elf.

The humans were mostly blind, seeing only in the flashes of spell light. Yami could see perfectly and he could sense the slowly decreasing agony from the vanishing magic. Yami purred in the darkness, the Veil magic hadn't permeated the humans at all; with the cloaks gone he was set. Yami unleashed his emotive spells to their fullest. Already weakened by their close proximity to the high concentration of Veil magic, Death Eaters collapsed as they encountered Yami's spells.

Those who retained their cloaks ran for the tower stairs. Yami let them go revelling in the joy and energy the terrified Death Eaters leaked.

Dumbledore was up there in the tower. The old wizard may have been tired, but he would take care of the escaping Death Eaters while Yami dealt with these ones.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Harry looked around desperately. Dumbledore had taken some of his weight off of Harry's shoulder, but he was still exhausted. There had to be a way to travel quickly to the castle. The Dark Mark in the sky flashed and caught Harry's eye again. He gritted his teeth and stumbled forward, still allowing Dumbledore to lean on him.

Yami's concern for what was happening in the castle had put Harry on edge. The Dark Mark meant that someone was dead; Harry could only hope that it wasn't Ron, Hermione, or any of his friends. He doubted it was Yugi, there was no way Yami would have been that calm if the tiny elf had been killed.

As the two of them rounded the corner and headed down the main street of Hogsmeade, Dumbledore pulled himself up onto his own feet. "Harry put the Invisibility Cloak on, you mustn't be seen here." Dumbledore said, once again his voice held the note of command which Harry knew so well. Without thinking Harry released his Professor, pulled the Invisibility Cloak out from under his jumper and pulled it over his head. Dumbledore lifted his wand. "Accio brooms." He sighed.

Harry bit his lip. They needed to hurry. The two brooms arrived, whistling around the corner sharply in response to the summoning spell. Harry had no idea where they had come from, but he couldn't have cared less. Harry swung his leg over the brush and pushed off from the ground, followed moments later by Dumbledore who hunched over his broom handle slightly.

The journey to the castle seemed to take hours, though Harry was sure it was no longer than a few minutes. Dumbledore had taken the lead for the last stretch over the lawns, but instead of heading for the front door he made for the tower. Harry hesitated for a moment before deciding to follow. Dumbledore must suspect something. Besides Harry felt that he couldn't leave his Professor alone in his weakened state, especially if there were Death Eaters in the area. They stopped at the top of the tower and Dumbledore sent their brooms back with a wave of his wand. Harry pulled the Invisibility Cloak down from over his head. "Professor, where are the Death Eaters. We need to help." Harry whispered, not sure why he was speaking softly.

Dumbledore turned quickly to Harry and raised his blackened hand to his lips. Harry fell silent, years of practiced misbehaving took hold and he pulled the Invisibility Cloak over his head again. He regretted it moments later. Harry saw Dumbledore's wand twitch and Harry's body froze. An instant later a familiar voice called out. "Expelliarmis."

Dumbledore's wand tumbled over the edge of the balcony. Harry remained frozen as Draco Malfoy stepped forward. Malfoy's wand was pointed at Dumbledore and he looked downright terrified.

Harry strained every muscle in his body trying to fight Dumbledore's charm. "Hello Draco." Dumbledore said in a good mimic of his normal cheerful tones.

"Who else is up here?" Malfoy demanded, glancing cautiously around the room.

"No one." Dumbledore replied easily.

Harry silently cursed and reached out to the earth magic. He could feel the magic pulsing underneath the castle, but the magic didn't respond to Harry's call. With an irritated breath Harry tried again, this time emptying his mind. Nothing.

Harry looked up desperately, there had to be something he could do to help.

Draco raised his wand slightly higher. "Fine." He said and hesitated.

Dumbledore smiled gently. He was leaning against the balcony, his face revealing hiss exhaustion. "Draco, you are no assassin."

"What do you know?" Malfoy snapped in anger, jabbing his wand forward.

Dumbledore shook his head slightly. "I know that it was you who sent the cursed necklace, though how you managed interests..." Dumbledore's eyebrows lifted. "Of course, Rosmerta. You have her under the Imperius curse."

Malfoy smirked. "She let me know you were out of the school tonight as well. So I knew it was safe to let the others in." Harry blinked, far from sounding pleased Malfoy actually sounded frightened.

"Yes, I am interested to find out how you managed that. After all there are all of my own protective spells around the castle and I believe Yami also placed his own spells to protect the school. He has something of an interest in a few of our residents."

Malfoy's lip trembled and he threw a quick look over his shoulder nervously. "The Vanishing Cabinet. The one Montegue was trapped in two years ago. He told me that he saw Borgin and Burkes when he was stuck."

"I see, and you repaired the Cabinet here." Dumbledore said. "Brilliant." He added.

Malfoy lifted his wand again. "Now I have to kill you."

"You don't Draco, you can come back. You don't have to work for Voldemort any longer." Dumbledore said, a sad look on his face as Malfoy twitched. Harry felt the earth magic twist around him and mentally lunged for it. It would be the perfect time for him to get Malfoy. Once again the earth magic didn't respond to his call. Harry would have screamed in frustration if he hadn't been paralysed.

"I have to." Malfoy cried. "If I don't kill you...he'll kill me." He whispered the last part. Harry felt a stab of pity for his nemesis. Malfoy obviously didn't want to kill Dumbledore, but Harry understood that Voldemort would have him so terrified that he wouldn't be able to disobey.

Harry shook off the feeling and focused as hard as he could on the earth magic, then on the bond to Yugi. Nothing, nothing was working.

He looked on completely helpless and hating every moment of it.

Harry gave a silent snarl. He could hear the fighting below, who knew what was going on. He could only hope that Yami had joined the battle and that had turned it in their favour.

Harry scrabbled for the magic again, nothing, so he gave up. Why would it not work, it wasn't as though fighting would put him in danger. In fact if he could use it then he would be able to fight better and protect Yugi. Harry didn't even know where his elf-child was and that worried him.

There was a noise on the stairs. Harry shivered as the ambient temperature dropped several degrees. For a moment he thought that Yami had arrived and Harry gave half a sign of relief. It wasn't Yami. Instead of the vicious shadows of Hogwarts Shade, several Death Eaters appeared around the corner of the stairs. They stood not five feet from Harry, oblivious to how powerless he was against them.

Harry began to struggle physically against the spell.

"Well, Dumbledore it seems to me that Draco here has you cornered." One of them sneered. Harry could feel something cold coming off of him in waves. Also was it just him or did all six of them seem fainter, like they were fading into the background?

"So it would seem." Dumbledore said pleasantly. He didn't seem worried.

"Finish him Draco." The Death Eater said. Harry tried to scream again, but he couldn't open his mouth, he couldn't even make a whimper.

Malfoy looked frightened, but he raised his wand and swallowed. They all stood there for a moment. "Do it boy." The Death Eater snapped at the Slytherin. Harry frowned as much as he could paralysed as he was. Malfoy wasn't going to do it, he couldn't. For a moment Harry felt sorry for Malfoy again. He had been forced into this; he seemed to have no choice. Malfoy's wand lowered slightly.

"The boy is too weak. I will do it." A second Death Eater spoke and pulled out her wand. Harry's heart leapt into his mouth and his stomach twisted. _Come on Yami. Come up the stairs_. Harry begged silently.

There was another crash and the door opened a second time. The flash of hope faded before it had really taken hold. It wasn't the small lean figure of Harry's deadly ally, but the black robed form of Serverus Snape. Harry's heart sunk.

"Serverus." Dumbledore spoke softly. He was leaning against the railing still, and his x-ray eyes seemed to be pleading for something. Snape pulled out his wand. "The Shade is on the loose, we must leave." Harry felt rage fill him. Snape was working with the Death Eaters. He had betrayed Dumbledore.

"Serverus." Dumbledore repeated.

Snape turned his wand, "Avada Kedavra." He said his voice rung cold and clear through the night. The Death Eaters gave a delighted cry as the deadly green beam shot across the space and struck the Headmaster in the centre of his chest.

Dumbledore's body was thrown out into the darkness and vanished soundlessly into the void below. Harry was still frozen, but now it was with shock. The bindings had vanished with Dumbledore. The Death Eaters turned to run. It was then that shadows began to build up at the door.

Yami swirled up into the tower room. The Death Eaters pulled their cloaks around them, to Harry that seemed pointless. Yami however only had eyes for Snape. Harry nearly laughed with delight as Yami's shadows wrapped around Snape, slowly and determinedly crushing him. The Shade was welcome to him. Harry hoped that he was feeling particularly malicious.

A cold hatred ran through Harry and as Yami's shadows twisted around Snape Harry stepped forward and tugged at the Invisibility Cloak.

It was at that moment that things went disastrously wrong. The other Death Eaters and Malfoy had bolted past their Shade entangled comrade and down the stairs. Snape's face was pale, but he looked determined if terrified. The ex-Potions Professor raised his wand and spoke with forced calm. "Avada Kedavra." For the second time that night the deadly green beam spat from Snape's wand tip.

Harry had half pulled off his Invisibility Cloak, but he froze at those words. Harry's righteous anger vanished with a snap. Snape wasn't aiming for any of the Death Eaters retreating backs, not at a particular spot in Yami's shadows, not even at the spot where Harry stood half invisible.

He was aiming for Yugi.

The little elf had just reached the top of the stairs. Yugi's eyes were dull with exhaustion. He had probably just come to find Harry, childishly ignoring the danger he was walking into. The burst of green death-light caught him full on.

Harry's world began to spin, everything moved too slowly. As Yugi crumpled to the ground, a look of surprise on his pretty face Harry's ears were filled with Yami's agonised shriek. The Shade's shadows writhed and collapsed inwards. It was as though all the life had gone out of that darkness. They seemed almost inert now, nothing more than an errant shadow cast by the moonlight from beyond the window.

Snape fled without a backwards glance. Harry felt cold and empty and blackness began to invade his eyes. His last vision was of Yami's drained shadows trying to drag themselves towards Yugi's inert form. Then Harry gave himself up into the darkness.

* * *

_This chapter could have been longer, but this just seemed like a good place to stop, very dramatic. _

_Someone commented that they wanted something that could fight Yami. I forget who it was, but here it is. I know it wasn't used to its fullest extent here, but it is very effective and Voldemort will work on perfecting it. I've been planning this chapter since I decided what the Veil was going to be at the start of Light in the Shadows. I hope it is to everyone's satisfaction._

_Sorry cliff hanger._


	32. Aftermath

_Formatting alterations have occurred; changes in perspective are now separated by a paragraph separator thingy, you'll know it when you see it. I've had a few comments from people who didn't like the way I was doing it before, so I've changed it. No Biggy. _

_However if you find something that isn't right, in the wrong order or missing a paragraph, then let me know. Formatting hates me a little bit._

Chapter 32: Aftermath

Harry woke slowly. He felt as though he had been pushed through a meat grinder, all weak and mushy.

He was exhausted he realised, so exhausted that even breathing seemed to be an effort. No injury he had ever received had every felt like this.

He drifted in the comfortable darkness behind his eyelids for a few more minutes. Finally he attempted to open his eyes. Everything was blurry, and white. He blinked a few times; it was about as much movement as he could manage. Something obscured his vision slowly. It was dark and topped with red. "Harry, you're awake." Ron said. Harry could hear relief in his friend's voice.

Harry managed a smile, and then the memories came crashing back into his consciousness. "Yugi." The thought popped into croaking speech before he could stop himself.

Glasses were set on his face and Mrs. Weasley's tired face jostled into view. "He's alive, dear, barely. I don't think he will last much longer." A look of agony and sorrow passed over her motherly features.

Harry's heart gave a painful squeeze and his vision blurred again, this time with tears. The fact that Yugi had survived through the Killing Curse was testament to his magic, but what could Harry do? As far as he was concerned if Yugi died, it was all Harry's own fault.

A faint flicker of shadows moved through the corner of Harry's visions and with a mammoth effort, Harry pushed himself into a sitting position. Yami's shadows had returned to the dense cloud of darkness which Harry had seen when the Shade had been exhausted last year. "Yami, you look as good as I feel." Harry tried to smile, but he suspected it came out more like a wince.

The Shade twisted in what Harry assumed was a shrug. Madame Pomfrey was now standing at the end of the bed, but she was silent. Everyone in the room was watching the exchange, worry imprinted on their faces.

Yami's deep voice was soft, as though speaking was an effort nearly beyond him. "Fighting the Death Eaters completely depleted my power reserves. Then the killing spell..." Yami seemed to have to brace himself. "It rebounded along the bond to you and me. I absorbed as much as I could. It took the rest of my strength and it still was not enough." The shadows twisted slowly around the bed next to Harry's.

Yugi's tiny still form lay there, his face as pale as death, though his thin chest rose and fell slowly. "He needs you." Yami said softly. Harry shuddered. He had hardly enough energy to stay awake. Harry gritted his teeth. He owed Yugi everything. So Harry concentrated and through the open bond to he could feel Yugi slipping away.

Harry was so tired, but he groaned and pushed what energy he had into the elf. For a moment nothing happened and then he could have sworn that the trembling light at the other end of the bond strengthened ever so slightly.

Blackness threatened Harry's vision again and he lay back. Hermione leant forward, worried. "Harry you need to sleep, whatever happened, you need to rest." Her eyes were red and concerned so Harry tried to give her a comforting smile. He was sure he failed again.

Harry nodded, "Can you bring him here?" He asked quietly. Mrs. Weasley shifted slightly and glanced at the guarding shadow hovering between the two beds. Yami shifted some of his shadows out of the way. Mrs Weasley picked Yugi up and placed him gently at Harry's side. Yami moved again and curled himself around them both. Harry closed his eyes. There was a rustle of movement from around them, but Harry was already drifting off to sleep, Yami's shadows keeping him pleasantly cool.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Yami dozed, so far he had managed to restrict his emotive spells, but he was so tired. His hold was slipping slowly; he knew that he would have to just unleash them soon. There was a low level of energy trickling in from the misery left behind from Dumbledore's death, but it wasn't nearly enough.

Yami hadn't been to see the body of the old wizard. In fact he hadn't left Yugi's side in the Hospital Wing for the last three days.

Yami slid under the bed and curled up. Holding the spells in hurt, his shadows let out a low level moan. Why was he doing this to himself? He couldn't even feel Yugi's mind because the elf was so weak. Still Yugi's gentle nature prevented Yami from sucking the nearest humans dry.

"Yami?" Hermione's voice held a faint note of query. Yami shuddered and slid out from under the bed, well it was more like a squelch out from under the bed. He didn't have the strength to take human form. Hermione's eyes were red with tears, she and Ron walked over to the bed where Harry and Yugi slept.

"Are you alright?" Hermione asked quietly.

Yami supposed she had heard his moan. "No." He replied, not moving from his spot on the floor, moving took more strength than he had. Even the darkings had abandoned him for the forest. A Shade with no energy was of no interest to them.

"Yami we need to talk to you." Hermione said. As she did Ron glanced back over his shoulder and closed the door with a muttered spell.

Yami edged a little further out from under the bed. "About what?" He asked wearily.

Hermione pulled something out of her pocket, it was the necklace that Harry had retrieved from the cavern. Hermione had taken it from Harry's pocket when the others had brought him to the Hospital Wing. Yami had admired her skill, despite his distraction, he was certain that no one else had noticed her doing it.

Yami stretched upwards slightly. "It's not a Horcrux." Hermione said sadly.

Yami sighed, he could tell, there wasn't even the faintest of tainting on it. "No it is not." He admitted, all that risk for nothing. He groaned softly. He should have realised in the chamber, but he had been distracted by the Inferi.

Yami coiled into a puddle on the floor. Hermione and Ron sat on a nearby bed. "There was a note inside." Ron said.

Yami waited. When they said nothing, he added a bit of encouragement. "What did it say?"

Hermione pulled a crumpled piece of parchment out of the pocket of her robes. "To the Dark Lord. I know I will be dead long before you read this, but I want you to know it was I who discovered your secret. I have stolen the real Horcrux and intend to destroy it as soon as I can. I face death in the hope that when you meet your match, you will be mortal once more. R.A.B." Hermione looked up from the scrap of parchment. Yami remained silent digesting that.

"Well there is nothing we can do, the other Horcrux must be somewhere, we will find it." Yami told them on a sigh. He had to admit that the addition of two humans on whom he could feed was stretching his self control. The slow weak energy from their unhappiness was like having a sip of water when you could have a mouthful. "I assume that you have not told the Order anything about this mission."

Both humans nodded. "Of course not, Dumbledore said to tell no one."

"Good, now please go away." Yami retreated underneath the bed. The two humans exchanged a glance, but they both withdrew.

Yami sighed again and trickled a tendril of shadows up to examine Yugi. The elf felt slightly better, maybe.

Yami sighed and abandoned his post in the Hospital Wing. He wasn't going to be helpful to anyone in this state and there was no way he could repress his emotive spells anymore.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

When Harry woke for the second time he felt much better. Though considering he had felt like death before, it wasn't really all that much of an improvement.

He opened his eyes and looked around the blurry room. There was a slight weight at his side and he was warm. Harry shifted slightly, Yugi was still asleep and Yami was gone. Harry wondered where the Shade was. Wherever it was, he wouldn't be far away. There was no way he was going to leave Yugi in a state like this.

Harry sat up and noticed a glasses shaped blur sitting on the bedside table. He reached over and shoved them onto his face. The empty Hospital Wing snapped into focus. Harry sat for a while, absently patting Yugi's soft hair, wondering what was wrong.

There was something wrong; something he was forgetting. Then, like a fist to the gut it hit him. Dumbledore. A vision of the Headmaster's body spiralling away into the dark night flashed in front of Harry's eyes.

Dumbledore was dead.

Harry felt odd; he didn't quite know what to think. He felt as though he should be sad, but all he could come up with was confusion. He just couldn't imagine Dumbledore dead.

Then the second fact hit him and confusion changed to rage. Snape; that slimy good for nothing liar. Dumbledore had trusted him and Snape had killed him.

Harry slammed his fists into the bedspread. "Not that I do not appreciate the energy, but if you hit him I will hit you." Yami's voice held the faintest note of amusement. Harry jumped and turned his head. He hadn't even noticed Yami come in. The Shade was seated in human form on the bed next to them. Harry blinked. "You look better." Harry said feeling a little stupid.

Yami tilted his shoulders. "At the cost of two days of misery for the school, yes."

Harry winced. He'd been asleep for two days, probably longer. He looked down at Yugi and focused on the bond. The elf was still very weak, but he felt less like he was going to fade into nothing. "I think he's better." Harry said, reaching out to stroke the soft tri-coloured hair again.

Yami nodded. "He is, but it will be many days before he wakes." Harry was glad that Yami no longer seemed angry at him, if anything Yami sounded tired. Harry didn't question it, he was just grateful.

Harry sighed and pressed a little more of his strength into Yugi. A wave of dizziness swam over him. Harry took a couple of deep breaths and waited for it to pass. Then he looked back up at Yami. "What happened?"

Yami leant forwards, his gleaming scarlet irises focused on Harry. "Voldemort has very nearly mastered the control of the Veil magic."

Harry swallowed. "How?"

"I do not know. When I arrived at the castle that night all the Death Eaters wore cloaks which were soaked in the magic, I could barely approach them. When I did it took all my strength and drained me considerably." Yami paused, and something that looked like pain flashed over his features. "It hurt." He said softly, eyes downcast. He sat in silence for a moment before shaking himself and continuing. "It seems there is a down side that they had not taken into account. The Veil magic drains the humans using it as well as hurting me."

Harry nodded. That was very bad, but not as bad as it could be. Yami continued. "Eventually some of them removed the cloaks and I was able to fight them better. Once I had dealt with the Death Eaters remaining below the tower I ascended to find the others. You observed the rest."

Harry still had one question. "How come the Avada Kedavra spread to all three of us? I know you said you absorbed most of it, but how did it even affect us?"

Yami paused and his face clouded slightly in thought. "You opened the bond you have with Yugi to give him strength. The bond is used for the transference of energy. Apparently that energy can go either way. When Yugi was hit the spell was partially transferred to you and I." He paused and frowned. "I have told you this before." He said.

Harry frowned. He vaguely remembered waking once, but he didn't really remember what had happened, other than Yugi being very near death and Yami not being much better. "Sorry."

Yami shrugged. "As for the Horcrux, it was a fake."

Harry's head snapped back up, "What?" He nearly yelled.

Yami hissed softly. "Keep your voice down, the others do not know you are awake. Hermione and Ron have agreed that we will keep Dumbledore's mission a secret. We cannot risk it being heard by less than trustworthy ears." Harry bit his lip and nodded. After Snape's betrayal they could trust no one. Harry sighed; still he had some friends whom he could trust absolutely.

"What happened to the real one?" Harry asked.

Yami shook his head. "We do not know, there was a note within the fake which said that someone called R.A.B had taken the real Horcrux and intended to destroy it. Whether he managed I cannot tell."

Harry leant backwards into his pillows. All that work for nothing, Dumbledore had weakened himself for nothing. Yami was silent, letting Harry think.

The door to the Hospital Wing creaked open and three faces peered in. Harry gave them all a weak smile. Ginny hurried over to him and hugged him fiercely. Harry couldn't stop himself from returning the gesture. Hermione and Ron followed slightly more sedately and sat next to Yami on the bed. Harry blinked a little and wondered if the recent draining had anything to do with Yami's current rather placid state.

Everyone looked down at the still sleeping Yugi. Hermione asked the question they were all waiting to hear the answer to. "Is he going to be alright?"

Harry glanced at Yami quickly before he answered. "Yeah."

Hermione and Ron both breathed a sigh of relief. Harry put a question to them. "Did anyone other than..." He swallowed. "...Dumbledore get hurt during the fight?"

Hermione nodded sombrely. "Death Eaters mainly, once they got rid of those cloaks Yami took them down a couple of notches." She grinned over at the Shade. Yami smirked and leant back on his elbows.

Hermione continued, her face darkening a little. "Bill was bitten by Fenrir Greyback the werewolf. They aren't sure what is going to happen to him, but he's alive and he seems okay. Some of the House Elves joined in the fight and two of them were stunned, but they recovered fine. I wanted them to be released as a reward, but none of those who helped out wanted it." Hermione looked so put out at the House Elves refusal that Harry couldn't help but laugh softly.

Yami hummed softly. "They were protecting Yugi. They considered it to be their duty; they will not require thanks."

Everyone fell silent for a few minutes, each deep in their own thoughts. Finally Ron spoke up; the red-head had been surprisingly quiet. "Harry, they're having Dumbledore's funeral in a couple of days, students are allowed to come."

Harry looked over at his friend. Ron continued. "They're burying him here. Mum wanted me to tell you that you can come if you're up to it."

Harry swallowed the lump in his throat and nodded. He would make it down there no matter what. He glanced down at Yugi. Yami looked up. "I will set a guard for Yugi so that we can go."

Everyone looked at Yami in surprise. He wanted to go to the funeral?

Yami shrugged his slim shoulders, but didn't elaborate. None of them pressed him. Instead they all fell into a companionable silence again, until Harry's eyelids became heavy and he drifted back to sleep.

* * *

_I hate writing two stories at once; at least when I doubled up on the prequel to these they were the same characters. After I had finished this chapter I realised that Harry had gone all Sherlock Holmes. I had to re-write almost the entire thing. How I could get them mixed up is way beyond me, but hey._


	33. Funeral

_The last couple of chapters are baby ones. Just finishing things off ready for the next story. Are you guys getting bored of these? I will be writing the last of the trilogy if only for my own personal gratification. Though it may take me a bit longer to get out than this one, next year is going to be a real bitch._

Chapter 33: Funeral

Yami settled casually on the hospital bed and waited for Harry to finish changing into his school robes. Dumbledore's funeral was today. If he admitted to it, Yami didn't know what a funeral involved. He had never attended one and he wasn't one to asked questions when he didn't know something, especially when it involved asking humans.

The atmosphere today was one of general sadness, so Yami had opened his reserves as far as they went to absorb as much energy as he could. The two days of low level fear had been helpful in reviving him, but Yami hadn't pushed it. He was now strong enough to fight off a small group of Death Eaters, and take human form. For the moment that was enough. They would be heading back to the non-magical parts of the city soon and Yami would fully replenish his strength there.

Yami glanced over at Yugi. He was still unconscious, still in a deep unreachable sleep. Yami didn't like how long he had spent unconscious this year; it was not good for him. Unfortunately there was nothing Yami could do but watch and keep him safe, after all Yugi had chosen the most risk taking human Yami had ever encountered. If anything the last few weeks had taught him what it was to be powerless, and reinforced how much he hated the feeling.

Yami looked up as he sensed someone approaching the Hospital Wing, tensing and drawing up his magic. Moments later he relaxed.

Hermione and the Weasley's entered the room, all dressed in sombre black. Mrs Weasley was already crying. Yami shifted his weight and swung off the bed. As his feet hit the floor there were several loud cracks and the eight House Elves which Yami had employed as Yugi's guard arrived, Dobby at their head.

The ugly little creature straightened to his full, rather insignificant height and met Yami's scarlet eyes without fear. "We is ready Yami sir." He piped.

Yami nodded and turned back to the sleeping forest-elf. He had darkings stationed around the room to keep an eye on everything and his own darking was lurking in a makeshift pocket of the jacket he had dug out of his shadow wardrobe. He had discovered his darking skulking around the kitchens the other day and had retrieved it, once his energy levels were high enough to sustain the little shadow.

Yami lent down and brushed a gentle kiss over Yugi's forehead. He straightened and nodded to the humans. "Come then." He padded over to join them.

As they departed Yami turned and placed his palm flat against the door. He sent a quick burst of energy through the walls and the earth magic surged in response. Ever since the Death Eaters had broken into the school the earth magic had become as active as it had been in the village.

Yami could now feel it shifting and reaching just below the surface, alert to all movements within the school. However in waking the magic completely they had resolved the problem of it's over activation. The sentient power watched now, and Yami knew that the school wouldn't permit anyone to harm his elf. It was the only reason he was willing to leave the Hospital Wing and its sleeping occupant.

Their procession to the funeral was a quiet one, broken only by a few sniffs and soft sobs.

The lawns in front of the school were covered with neat little golden chairs all facing the direction of a large white slab of stone. Up above their heads, the phoenix was singing a sad, lonely song. Yami looked up at it and immediately felt Harry tense beside him. Yami studied the bird as it swooped closer.

Shadow and flame examined each other and then each disregarded the other. Today at least they would call a truce.

As their small group stepped out into the sunlight people turned. Yami had stepped up to walk next to Harry and people stared. Not all of them were students. Most were in fact people who Yami had never encountered, adult humans who provided him with a thrill of their fear at his casual presence at this apparently sacred event. Yami had sensed them arrive and disregarded them. Mostly. He had made an appearance as they arrived, a warning to all that Hogwarts was still guarded. However as none of the adults were Death Eaters or controlled by Voldemort, Yami left them mostly alone.

Yami ignored the stares and followed his humans to a nearly empty region of chairs.

Everyone sat and Mrs Weasley began to sob into her handkerchief. Several nearby people muttered angrily that Yami shouldn't be allowed here. Yami turned and met their eyes. They looked away. Yami sniffed, they were pathetic.

Slowly people began to make their way to their seats. Some humans looked devastated, others looked confused, while some; the Minister for Magic for example looked almost pleased. Yami sneered at him when the man turned to look at them.

The Minister met his eyes slightly longer than the others, before he too turned away.

Yami watched apathetically as Dumbledore's body was brought forwards and placed on the slab of white stone. His wand was resting gently against his chest, held in his fingers.

Yami shifted to disguise the application of a few vision filters. The earth magic didn't respond to the wand as it had when Dumbledore had been alive. Yami tilted his head; it was as though the wand was waiting. Yami leant back into his chair. The oddities didn't surprise him. Elfin made magical items were notoriously strange.

A small wizened wizard stepped out the front and began to speak, Yami half listened to the description of Dumbledore's life. Most of it lacked interest to him.

The phoenix song continued and a second throb of magic drew Yami's attention away from the humans around him. He glanced around, gathered at the edge of the forest was a herd of centaurs, by the lake the merfolk had risen to the surface and were listening carefully. At the back the half-giant Hagrid and his full blood giant brother were seated. Soft sobs were echoing around the gathered humans, interspersed with trumpeting sounds from the distraught Hagrid.

Yami was impressed despite himself, that one human could call together all these different races. Yami wondered absently what had drawn the others to the dead wizard. Harry shifted beside him and Yami tilted his head to look at the young human. Harry had a wry smile on his face, as though there was something amusing him which none of them could possibly understand.

Finally the little wizard at the front stopped speaking and turned his wand onto Dumbledore's body. There was a swirl of magic and a flash of flame, when everything cleared the Headmasters body was completely encased in stone.

The phoenix gave a final sad cry and turned to sail off over the forest, the centaurs withdrew and the merfolk vanished beneath the surface of the lake again. Yami found himself sitting in a crowd of humans, all of whom were looking at him with a great deal of distrust.

Yami felt a hand at his elbow and Harry muttered down to him. "Come on, I need to talk to everyone privately."

Yami followed Harry quietly, as the young human gathered up Hermione and Ron and directed them to their usual tree by the lake. Yami called his darking up and it told him that nothing was happening in the Hospital Wing, everything was completely quiet.

Yami glanced over at the remaining humans; all the Ministry humans were still within sight.

While the three humans settled onto the ground Yami stood, leaning against the tree trunk. One eye on the three humans beside him the other eye on the adults in the distance.

"What did you want to talk about Harry?" Hermione asked gently.

Harry was sitting leant against the tree; he was pale and shaky still exhausted from the battle. "I was thinking about next year. Even if they re-open Hogwarts, which I think is unlikely. I'm not coming back."

Ron nodded. "Didn't think you would, mate. So we go looking for the Horcruxes?" Ron looked between Hermione and Harry. Hermione nodded, though she spared a look for Yami.

Harry, however, shook his head. "No I'm going alone." Yami turned and looked down at him. Harry grinned apologetically. "Well, just me, Yugi and Yami. You guys should stay with your families, stay safe."

"No way mate; we're coming with you. We can't leave you alone with Yami; you'll drive each other nuts." Ron said; arms folded across his chest a stubborn look on his face.

Yami chuckled and returned his attention to the adults; some of them were watching their little group. Probably wondering what they were discussing.

Harry opened his mouth to retort, Hermione cut him off aggressively. "Harry we are coming with you, Ron and I have already decided. Dumbledore told you to trust us, so trust us. We could have backed out years ago, but we didn't. We knew that something like this would happen; after all you are the Boy-Who-Lived." Harry opened his mouth so Hermione cut him off again. "No arguments. Now the Order are going to make you go back to the Dursley's one more time, but then we are going to come and get you. From there we hunt down the Horcruxes and kill Voldemort."

Yami hummed his delight at the last part of that plan.

All three of them turned to look at him. Harry blinked. "You don't seem angry with me anymore." Harry said. Yami half turned his back on them and watched as several Order members broke away from the crowd and started heading towards them. It was a good thing that Harry had changed the subject then.

Yami shrugged and replied. "Anger requires energy and until we return to the non-magical parts of the world I will have to live off the reserves that I have taken from the students. Though it is tempting to play with the others here today." He said the last loud enough that the approaching Order members heard him. All of them flinched.

McGonagall stepped forward and nodded to him. Yami however wasn't taking that. He may not have had much energy, but everything that the Order was involved in was a danger to Yugi and his three humans. From this point forward his trust lay in the hands of Harry. If Harry deemed someone worthy of his trust then they were trustworthy.

Yami had realised as Harry had spoken before that the young human had finally learnt his lesson. In truth that was why Yami was no longer angry. Harry would make no more mistakes, of that Yami was sure. Yami stepped in McGonagall's way, blocking her from reaching the three students who were now scrambling to their feet.

Yami looked up and met her eyes with his. It was a face off. What Yami lacked in height he more than made up for in power, but Minerva McGonagall wasn't someone to be easily intimidated. "I have a question for Mr. Potter." She said calmly, looking at him fiercely.

Harry stepped up to stand next to Yami and the other two joined him. Yami decided to ignore the fact that everyone now towered over him. "Harry." McGonagall started, Yami thought it was a bad start. She never called him Harry. "Professor Dumbledore gave you a job before he died, would you please tell me what it is. Mr Weasley and Miss Granger have refused."

Harry didn't even blink. "I'm sorry Professor, but I can't tell you. Professor Dumbledore told me not to tell anyone."

"Professor Dumbledore is dead Mr. Potter." That was better. "He would have wanted you to..."

Harry cut her off, shaking his head. "He never said anything about his instructions changing if he died."

McGonagall frowned and the other Order members shifted slightly. Yami called over his darking, the tiny shadow had been about to wrap itself around Flitwick's face. Yami bit back a smile. His darking was rather bloodthirsty. "I suppose Yami knows." The werewolf Lupin said softly.

Yami decided to answer this, seeing as many of them were overlooking him. "Of course I know human. I know everything and we will not tell you anything. Now unless you have something else important to tell Harry, leave." Yami swelled his shadows out warningly.

The sudden appearance of writhing shadows around his slim human form was a good disguise from the fact that such an impressive trick was draining. The adults backed off quickly. Yami watched and waited until they were inside. Another quick check via darking told him that Harry needed to return to the Hospital Wing.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Harry sat in the dim light of the Hospital Wing. The school year was over, exams had been cancelled and everyone was heading home. The biggest rumour being that Hogwarts wouldn't reopen next year. Harry wasn't surprised. He would return for the last time to the Dursley's this year and then he would hunt down Voldemort.

The Hogwarts Express left for London in three days; Harry hoped Yugi would be awake by then. He focused to allow more of his limited supply of energy to flow through into Yugi.

Harry sighed and settled back on his own pillows. He felt different since that night in the tower, not just because he now knew how he was going to spend the next year. There was something else, something less tangible.

Alone he felt almost normal, but when he was around people it was as though he was hyperaware of them, everything about them. Where they stood, how they stood, how they were feeling. Harry pinched himself and felt himself snap out of that revive. It was the brush with death, he told himself, suddenly being acutely aware of all the life in the room.

Harry closed his eyes and tried to go to sleep, he found it difficult. So for a last ditch effort he poured every ounce of energy he had left in his body into Yugi. It wouldn't harm the elf and it would... let... him...

* * *

_Hmm, this was going to be a short chapter, but things kind of escaladed. I have to make sure I'm getting everything set up, hopefully it isn't too overloaded._

_Well last chapter up next week._


	34. Beginning

_Hard to believe that this is the last chapter of the second story! So excited, if a little sad that it has come to an end_

Chapter 34: Beginning

Harry pushed the last of his clothes into his trunk and squashed the lid down. He sighed and leant against the wood. While he had needed to pack his things it had taken more energy than he had expected it to, even if he had been able to use magic.

With his trunk packed Harry headed back to the Hospital Wing; where he had spent the last three days, waiting for Yugi to wake up.

It hadn't been until this morning that the bright eyed boy had been able to drag himself out of the black pit he had slipped into and grace them with his cheery smile.

Harry pushed open the door to the Hospital Wing. He was greeted by the Weasley's and half the Order of the Phoenix. Hagrid was standing in one corner, Lupin and Tonks sitting side by side on one of the spare beds, McGonagall and the Weasley's were sitting in chairs surrounding Yugi's bed. The elf was asleep again, resting curled up in the crook of Yami's arm. The Shade was starting to look tired again, his eyelids drooping slightly over his sharp eyes.

Harry smiled at everyone weakly. Hermione and Luna were perched on the pair of chairs between the two beds. Harry dropped unceremoniously onto Yugi's bed and accepted the tiny elf from his Shade guardian. This close Harry could sense that Yugi was better, much better and this made Harry's hopes rise.

"Potter, we need to discuss your travel arrangements." McGonagall said. Everyone turned to watch them. Harry just waited; several of the people present had tried to talk them into revealing the mission Dumbledore had left them. It had only stopped when Yami had informed everyone that the next person to ask would be used to fill his reserves, completely. It was an effective threat; Harry had barely been approached in the last three days.

The discussion was delayed as Yugi muttered softly and woke. Everyone leant in. Harry smiled down at him. "Hey, feeling better?" He asked gently.

Yugi blinked a couple of times, giving his eyes a moment to refocus and adjust to the light in the room. Then he smiled faintly and nodded. He then frowned slightly and blinked at everyone in confusion.

Harry hadn't been able to explain anything to him when he had woken up this morning, he hadn't been awake long enough. Yugi seemed a bit more alert this time so Harry told him what had happened in the last few days, carefully excluding anything about the Horcruxes. Yugi cried when Harry told him about Dumbledore. Harry hugged him gently and watched as Mrs Weasley's eyes filled tears as well. Everyone was still very sombre. Harry gave Yugi a few more moments to compose himself.

"You were saying Professor?" Harry asked carefully.

McGonagall looked down at Yugi who had wiped his red-rimmed eyes on his sleeve and was now watching everyone. Harry could also feel the reassuring chill emanating off of Yami who was still seated on the bed behind him. "Yes, well we think it would be best if you returned to your Aunt and Uncles house until you turn seventeen."

Harry nodded. He had been expecting this. "Then what?" He asked.

"Someone will come and get you and take you to a safe house. The larger consideration is what you are to do Yami." Everyone shifted their attention to the Shade leaning back into the pillows behind Harry.

Yami eyes opened slowly. "I will go with Harry and Yugi back to the non-magical part of the city, I need to replenish my reserves and that is the best place to do it. You will need to remove the anti-Shade spells around their home. I do not have the strength to cross them."

McGonagall nodded calmly. "I can also remove the spells from the Express and at King's Cross."

Yami nodded, "When you come to take Harry and Yugi to this safe house send a warning. I will put up boundary spells which will warn me of any approaching magical human and I will not be able to tell the difference between you and Death Eaters. I will attack anyone who crosses the spells. As for going to the safe house, I will go with them. I am a far better protector than anything you can offer."

Lupin stirred, "What happens if Voldemort perfects these anti-Shade spelled cloaks that he had the other night, then you will be of no help." Yami hissed, but Lupin continued. "I have to admit that having a Shade guarding Harry is probably the best protection that we could give him, but Voldemort has now got a way to protect his Death Eaters from you."

Yami sniffed irritably. "If I had my way I would take Harry and Yugi to the nearest elfin village and leave them there, but Dumbledore left Harry a task. That task must be completed." Yami gave a sly smile. "And you have not yet seen all of my skills werewolf." Harry smiled. Yami was talking about the earth magic. The Order still didn't know about it and its uses. It was probably their biggest advantage over Voldemort, nothing he came up with could possibly compete with it.

Mrs Weasley frowned. "That is a thought, what about the elves." She looked down at Yugi, who had been utterly still and silent during the exchange. "Would your people be willing to help us?"

Yugi shook his head and flicked his eyes to Yami. Yami spoke for him, the message passed mentally. "The elves will not fight unless it is their last resort. We will send them a warning to be ready, but do not expect their aid until the last possible moment."

The little party broke up soon after that. Harry was still sleeping in the Hospital Wing to stay close to Yugi; he settled onto his bed and closed his eyes. They would be leaving in the morning, and Harry didn't quite know what to expect.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Yami watched his sleeping elf and human. He waited a few more minutes until he was sure that they were actually asleep. Yami moved into a corner, they wouldn't be coming back to Hogwarts next year and Yami found himself a little reluctant to abandon his network of darkings.

It had taken a bit of convincing, but finally Yugi had agreed that having the little shadows along with them next year could be helpful. Yami had done a few calculations and come up with twelve as the magic number. That way he could have eight with him, a fairly standard number for a Shade as strong as him, and then one each to stay with his three humans and Yugi. That way he could keep an eye on them even if he had to leave them for a time.

He spent the rest of the night using up a lot of his remaining energy imprinting the darkings. When he finally settled down to rest it was nearly morning.

Yami started the journey back to London in shadow form. He told the humans it was to allow him to move as undetected as possible, the truth was that it was to save as much energy as he could. Thankfully the atmosphere on the train was of generalised low level fear, allowing Yami a slow inrush of energy.

Harry had been plying Yugi with as much energy as he could, as a result Yugi was recovering fast, but Harry was left rather drained. As such the two of them spent the first half of the journey asleep.

Ginny had just left, leaving Ron sitting opposite the sleeping Harry, Hermione next to him. Yami sighed; it was time to break one of the only laws his people had. He drew slowly into human form and shook Harry slightly. The young human woke with a start. "Are we there?" He asked sleepily. His voice woke Yugi; the elf yawned and smiled around at everyone.

Yami found himself smiling back. "I need to talk to you all. I have something to give you."

They all turned to focus on him. Yami reached back and locked the door with a wisp of magic at the same time calling all the darkings up from the shadows under the seats. The tiny shadows came in a flood. Harry's eyes widened as they focused on the shadows, Yami knew that he could see them as separate individual spots of darkness. Hermione and Ron were just waiting, obviously assuming that they were a part of Yami, or one of his spells.

Yami allowed a darking to coil on his palm. It wrapped itself around him, tugging on the magic which formed his body. "This is a darking." He paused and struggled as his nature, his knowledge of what was right and law fought to keep him silent. This was far more important, and well worth the revelation of the darkings. Besides he trusted these three humans.

Yugi frowned, but didn't help. He knew that this was something Yami had to do alone. "I am sorry." The humans all blinked at his apology. "This is a Shade secret, I should not be telling you this, but you need to know." He paused again and allowed his magic to settle with his newly realised morals. "Darkings are a little like miniature Shades." Yami started, pausing as Ron balked. "But instead of feeding on human emotion, they feed on magic. You have seen them around the school, but passed them off as me, or my magic. These are my spy network." Yami added quickly.

Hermione gasped and clapped a hand to her mouth, "But can't people see them?"

Yami shook his head. "Humans do not even know they exist, anti-Shade spells camnot keep them out and dementors do not care about them. Darkings are in all consideration no more important than magic itself. In fact they are more than likely the reason that spells break down over time. Darkings eat the magic away."

Hermione frowned. "Why haven't Shades used them to break down the anti-Shade spells?"

Yami grumbled softly, this was not supposed to be a question and answer session. "Darkings are not the most intelligent creatures. It is difficult to get them to understand something, and unless you can point to a spell directly getting them to consume a particular piece of magic is nearly impossible. Besides it would take a lot of darkings a long time to destroy the anti-Shade spells. But this is not the important part." Yami paused as a group of students walked past their door. Once they had disappeared he continued. "I am going to give you each one, that way I can keep track of you all."

Ron looked at Yami's palmful of shadow. "So if we keep one of these with us, then you can find us no matter where we are?"

Yami nodded. "As I have explained with the spy network, it is not very specific, but one darking can lead me to another. They can contact each other over any distance." Hermione opened her mouth so Yami cut off her question. "Before you ask, I do not know how they do it."

Yami sent off each of the four darkings he had selected and the tiny creatures began to investigate their new friends. Yami blocked out the quiet chatter of the darkings 'talking' amongst themselves. Hermione had gone very still. "Can we talk to them?" She asked carefully.

Yami smirked. "Not unless you speak Shade. If you are in trouble, tell them Stupefy. I've taught them to send me a message if you should say that." Yami leant back into the seat. It had taken him all night to teach his dakings that. He was glad to note that the moment he had said Stupefy the darkings had each called out to his own that the word had been said. So it would definitely work so long as the darkings didn't foget.

Ron had tried to grab his and the little shadow skittered out of reach and then vanished under Ron's shirt. Yami knew Ron wouldn't be able to feel the darking, but he still thrashed around in an amusing way. Finally Ron gave up and looked over at Yami. "Do we have to feed them?"

Yami shook his head and looked at Yugi. The elf had used a tweak of magic and had coerced his darking into a black headband which now held his long golden fringe out of his eyes. Harry had just allowed the darking to vanish under his clothes and was watching Yami with tired eyes. "They eat magic, they will just pick at your spells or the spells around you."

Harry's eye went wide in alarm. "That could put us in a lot of danger." He said.

Yami shook his head again. "No, like I said, darkings are everywhere. The magic that these eat will not even be noticed."

Further conversation was interrupted as the train arrived in London with a loud whistle.

Yami dissolved into his shadows again. The darkings were apparently alright with staying with the humans and tucked themselves into the pockets which held their wands. Yugi's darking remained as a headband and seemed to be completely content with its position. Yami hoped it didn't draw questions.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Harry stepped through the barrier into the muggle part of the station. He paused, Yugi was seated on the trolley and Yami was nearby watching. He could feel the faintest shift in his jeans pocket where the darking was.

Had it only been a year ago that he had made the same trip back to the Dursley's. Last year he had lost Sirius, now Dumbledore was gone. Harry felt as though he was slowly losing everyone. Moody and Lupin were following him, the Weasley's had departed after bidding him goodbye and Hermione had gone to find her parents.

Harry began to look around for his uncle; he had sent a letter telling him when to pick Harry and Yugi up from the station. Harry knew that things could go two ways at this point. Either his uncle would be furious and blast him with abuse or, and this was more likely; he would decide to ignore Harry completely.

There was a ripple of beckoning shadows from ahead and Harry hurried after Yami. The Shade led them to Uncle Vernon who was looking down at Yugi with undisguised disgust. He turned and walked off without a word.

Ignored. Harry smiled to himself and nodded towards Lupin and Moody who were watching from a distance. Harry knew that the Order were mad at him, he had still refused to tell them anything about Dumbledore's mission and with Yami on his side again there was nothing that they could do to get him to tell them.

Yugi whistled at him, he was watching Uncle Vernon walk off. Harry put his weight behind the trolley and hurried after his uncle. So this summer was going to be about the same as the last. Hooray.

* * *

_So we reach the end of another story. Part two is finished. Part three is still in the planning stage. I'm hoping to start writing it in the next week or so. However in an odd backwards fashion, I write more when I am at uni than I do when I am on holidays. So you probably won't see the next one until into the New Year sometime. Ah well, I'll get there._

_I would really like to finish my Sherlock story before I start doing any regular updating of the final, otherwise danger threatens, as it is Harry was looking a little shaky towards the end. That shouldn't take me too long though._

_A special thank you to YankeeSamson and Hanzo of the Salamander for their serial reviewing of 'The Path of Shadows'. To everyone else, thank you for reading, reviewing and favouriting and I hope to see you all again for the final instalment. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone._

_p.s: The Triqual is called 'A Shadow's Dark Heart', not sure if I mentioned that. Keep an eye out!_


End file.
